What to do... (Full Version)

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EInspector -> What to do... (3/14/2005 12:32:42)

Hi everyone,

My website has #1 and #2 ranking in the big 3 search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, as well as others) for most of my keywords/ search phrases, and I have worked very hard to get it there. I just noticed that one of my direct competitors has "borrowed" my exact keywords and description tags. The keywords are one thing, but now we have the exact same description showing up in the search engine results. His site isn't ranking well with most SE, probably due to lack of content, but MSN does list us both on the first page. It looks ridiculous that we have the same description, but are two different companies. Is it illegal for them to "borrow" (being nice here) my tags? What is the best way to handle this situation? I am flattered that they like my words, but it is very frustrating to say the least. Thanks in advance for any responses.

Susie [:)]




Mojo -> RE: What to do... (3/14/2005 13:38:20)

Unless they are using TM'd terms that you own it will be very difficult (if not impossible) to force them to change their ways.

Copying those tags are *not* going to raise you competition higher than you in the SERPs. Just continue to do what has brought you success and don't worry about them. Many of my sites don't even have tags.

If they start copying your content then you could always send a C&D to their host and they would likely remove the copied content. But tags? No.



EInspector -> RE: What to do... (3/14/2005 17:21:59)

Hi Mojo,
Thanks for the reply. I went ahead and telephoned the owner of the company and explained the situation to him. He said that one of the guys in the office does their website, but that "borrowing" information is not acceptable as far as he's concerned. He assured me he would look into the matter as soon as he got back to the office. He then called just a while ago and told me that they were looking at their website and didn't know what I was talking about...the descriptions are totally different. Boy was I ticked! Sure enough, he had called the office to discuss the matter with his "webmaster", and the guy changed the tags before he got there. He then got on the phone with me and told me that he has never even been to my website, even though we still have the EXACT same keywords (I had just updated my keywords recently to reflect some new services, and they are not common). He said that is just a "weird coincidence" and that he has been using some automated submission software (ADWeb) that must be changing the meta-tags. I don't think that is possible, don't you have to manually change the source code and publish it? Anyways... after being made to look like a fool, I found a cached version of his site and printed it.... my tags and all. Then printed the current source code and description. Found that FireFox tool will show the last time a webpage has been modified and took a screenshot of that showing page modified 20 minutes after I spoke with the owner. He had told the owner that he hasn't even "touched" the website in over a month! I just faxed off a lovely little package to the owner explaining that although his webmaster seems to have resolved the "issue", I didn't want him to think that I was misleading him or trying to create problems. Someone in his office is doing some pretty fast "back-peddling"!!!!!

Thanks again for the support!
Susie[:D]



Mojo -> RE: What to do... (3/14/2005 18:24:52)

I am glad it worked out for you. Legally, you really couldn't do much (well, you can always sue anyone for almost anything, but winning is another matter).

It sounds like your competition is much nices than others. Lucky you. [:)]



EInspector -> RE: What to do... (3/14/2005 19:12:40)

Yes.. I am lucky that he was responsive to my request. I just don't like his "webmaster" playing silly little games of "I didn't do that" with me. I'm sure the owner won't be happy with the fact that he lied flat-out to him regarding the matter! We'll see what happens. I don't know why everyone wants to "borrow" other's work.. just be a bit creative. I noticed from my website "stats" that a couple of people have downloaded my site to their C: Drive (shows the path and all, and named it "sample" on one). Why would they do that? Perhaps as a sample of "what not to do with a website"!! lol[:D]



Reflect -> RE: What to do... (3/15/2005 11:55:39)

For issues like this just loked at teh way back machine( http://www.waybackmachine.org/ ) or even in Google just click on the link called "cache", "G o o g l e's cache is the snapshot that we took of the page as we crawled the web. The page may have changed since that time.".

These both will give you differing ages of pages of the past.

Take care,

Brian



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