[CONSPIRACY] The Network

I assume you are familiar with the guys who own Google. But are you familiar with the guys who POWN Google?

I was doing a competition research today, and discovered a network. Or should I say THE NETWORK. This is quite amazing, really....

From a rough approximation the network has about 20,000 domains. Note, DOMAINS not subdomain blogs. In the entire network I haven't seen a single subdomain.

Each domain is monetized in its own unique way, the domains cover a huge number of niches. Many domains presents a legit peace of information. For example one of the domains offered Autocad lessons.

The links are contextual, for example the Autocad website offered to relax from the lessons at some point and to visit a casino.

The smallest pagerank I have seen is 3. Many of the websites are a single-page websites with doubtful value that are listed in DMOZ.

Deeper investigation showed that the domains interlink weakly. I.e. it is most likely a privately owned network.

I don't want to post any links here, after all its someone's business. But I assume that those involved would immediately know what network I am talking about.

What I came to ask here, is this: Do you know the entrance into the rabbit hole?

Just seems like you are talking about an individual/company that has a lot of sites, so what? I personally know someone with 8000+, it aint illegal or a conspiracy.

tony23 said:

Just seems like you are talking about an individual/company that has a lot of sites, so what? I personally know someone with 8000+, it aint illegal or a conspiracy.

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Well I am a long time in business, and it comes natural when you need to tell the difference between white hat and black hat. The one I saw is black hat.

The content although looks absolutely legit is aimed to promote the backlink. Menu links in many cases serve as a links to other (unrelated) websites. Such a website shouldn't be in DMOZ - yet its there.

There are some 'end points' I encountered, that have no outwards links. They are mostly Casino related websites.

Lets say it this way - if Google encounters this network it will go down the drain.

p.s. 'Conspiracy' is part the thread marketing.

there are loads of these networks out there...couple owners on here too...why are you surprised?

$10 says Matt Cutts owns the network.

reinie said:

there are loads of these networks out there...couple owners on here too...why are you surprised?

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Yes, I have seen some of them before. Mostly xrumer made and blog based.

This one is manually made and not blog based. Considering the costs on domain names (mostly .com, .co.uk .fr, .it) + the costs of the hosting - the entire thing should cost at least 7 digits to the owner (per year).

Yes, I am surprised. Given the maintenance costs I can but imagine the revenues.

i own a network of 15,000 sub-domain blogs, whats your point.

20K is big but it's not that big and I know tons of people with several thousands of domains just of their own. BH isn't just a bunch of solo operators working in their Mom's basement - there are people who have been at this for 10 years+ and who have full on companies, offices and employees. The cost of maintaining sites isn't that much on a per site basis with good systems and automation.

I was just looking at a guy who is ranking top 10 for "buy viagra" and he has a 5K network of established blogs he's acquired solely for the purpose of ranking that one site. It's just money in vs money out.

Gedankenex said:

i own a network of 15,000 sub-domain blogs, whats your point.

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Exactly that! We all own sub-domain networks. Or networks that consist mostly of sub-domains. Its easy to accomplish with the right tools.

I am speaking about top-level domain network. Network, where large chunk of websites are listed in DMOZ. Network where each website has a PR 3-7. Network that funnels the traffic from a legitimate looking main pages (not some spun autoblog). Network that was made manually.

I am not amazed by the size of the network, I am amazed by the quality of it.

it is not so expensive actually. The main cost are the domains. You can buy private nameservers, host everything on a single dedi and they still will look like they are hosted on different IPs. Many hosting providers even offer free private nameservers if you buy some of their pro dedi plans. The main expense are the domains but 20kx10$ per year is 200k and I guess he is making much more than that per year.

sorry, but I don't get the point about conspiracy in the title. what is your REAL question?

Google only acts if some big fish reports ( remember J.C.Penny case?). If you report, they will prolly ignore.

eatmorefish said:

sorry, but I don't get the point about conspiracy in the title. what is your REAL question?

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I assumed it is a service for sale (i might be wrong), and wondered whether anyone knows the sales person.

polocolto said:

Google only acts if some big fish reports ( remember J.C.Penny case?). If you report, they will prolly ignore.

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I don't really want to report them. Its not them who are to blame - they just adapt to the era of Google algorithms.

Isnt the general outlook of most blackhatters to find something that works, and then scale the shiz out of it?
In this dudes case, job done

It's just cool. But like others point out... not so uncommon. Up till the legit part.

I wish I could invest that kind of money... because I would. That's some serious, instant ranking power right there if you got the right domains for the right market. Gotta love it!