How are spammers getting indexed on major sites via query parameters?

[aza1313]

Hi everyone,


When I search for a random term like "hoshino892" on Google, I notice that pages from large, reputable sites (like Goodreads, PosterMyWall, etc.) are showing up in the SERPs with spammy query parameters — for example:
https://www.postermywall.com/.../search?s=hoshino892

It seems like someone is abusing open search endpoints or URL structures on high-authority sites to get spam content indexed through Google.


I want to build a tool or system that can replicate this kind of behavior, but I can’t find any clear documentation or guides on how this is actually done or what it’s called.


Can anyone help me with the following?

• What is this method officially called?
  (Query Injection? Index Hijacking? Something else?)
• What keywords or phrases should I search to find more info about it?
• Are there any scripts, case studies, or examples of this kind of automation?

Any help or pointer would be really appreciated

 

[brooke17br]

Spammers exploit query parameters to manipulate indexing through cloaking, parameter abuse, and SERP gaming.

 

[Steptoe]

Hi everyone,


When I search for a random term like "hoshino892" on Google, I notice that pages from large, reputable sites (like Goodreads, PosterMyWall, etc.) are showing up in the SERPs with spammy query parameters — for example:
https://www.postermywall.com/.../search?s=hoshino892

It seems like someone is abusing open search endpoints or URL structures on high-authority sites to get spam content indexed through Google.


I want to build a tool or system that can replicate this kind of behavior, but I can’t find any clear documentation or guides on how this is actually done or what it’s called.


Can anyone help me with the following?

• What is this method officially called?
  (Query Injection? Index Hijacking? Something else?)
• What keywords or phrases should I search to find more info about it?
• Are there any scripts, case studies, or examples of this kind of automation?

Any help or pointer would be really appreciated


View attachment 438806

I call is 'search box marketing' but I think most will call it spamdexing or query spam.

The method to finding these generally involves:
1) Identifying a site with a search function that use GET requests so keywords are displayed in the query string
2) Making sure the search results page is indexable (no 'noindex' meta tags or http headers)
3) Ideally having the query displayed in content and in the page title

This is pretty easy to script, and you can use a list of 'top domains' as a seed list, eg Cloudflare Radar: https://radar.cloudflare.com/domains

A shortcut to find functioning sites is just to copy an existing query like 'hoshino892' as in your screenshot and use those urls as starting points.

This was a previous discussion about the approach: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/ive-always-wondered-how-this-google-ranking-is-achieved.1626584/

 

[IM Dude]

I call is 'search box marketing' but I think most will call it spamdexing or query spam.

The method to finding these generally involves:
1) Identifying a site with a search function that use GET requests so keywords are displayed in the query string
2) Making sure the search results page is indexable (no 'noindex' meta tags or http headers)
3) Ideally having the query displayed in content and in the page title

This is pretty easy to script, and you can use a list of 'top domains' as a seed list, eg Cloudflare Radar: https://radar.cloudflare.com/domains

A shortcut to find functioning sites is just to copy an existing query like 'hoshino892' as in your screenshot and use those urls as starting points.

This was a previous discussion about the approach: https://www.blackhatworld.com/seo/ive-always-wondered-how-this-google-ranking-is-achieved.1626584/

Does some of these queries create backlinks? The one with the displayed in the page generated.

 

[Nut-Nights]

Here google refuse to index a regular site and people are indexing search pages. Someone can explain how it helps them?

 

[Steptoe]

Does some of these queries create backlinks? The one with the displayed in the page generated.

No, that would be XSS and a much worse security issue. Although the days of injecting html code straight into search forms and having it display a lovely indexable link are good memories for me!

Here google refuse to index a regular site and people are indexing search pages. Someone can explain how it helps them?

It sounds crazy I know but in some geos these sort of parasite pages work well. I would never dream of manually copy and pasting a link from a spammed search page and visiting it, but apparently people do it, and do it enough for it to be profitable.