Exploit Those Who Exploit Your Image Search Results

Ken's Blog

My last post showed how prominent blogs are stealing image search traffic from anguilla-beaches.com by using its Google-#1-ranked image of Jay-Z and Beyonce. This post offers options about how to respond...

• Fight it technically (through configuration in Apache, ugh). OR...
• Shame them by replacing the existing graphic (same file name) with one that says, "This site steals images from anguilla-beaches.com." OR...
• Use the vultures who prey on these high-ranked images to gain some free promotion.

Here's what we did...

Why waste time and money on programming when Google is bound to fix this big hole in their Image Search algorithm?

And why make enemies, not to mention change the image (so that it has a nasty message) to one that is not even about Jay-Z?

We did change the image while retaining its file name and some of Jay-Z, forcing a new image to appear on all those high-profile blogs. But we did it to gain exposure and traffic, a positive expenditure of energy, rather than waste time on non-productive, negative efforts.

During the original post on this topic, I showed a screenshot of how a blog was stealing over 1,000 visitors per day from anguilla-beaches.com for the image search at Google for "Jay-Z." I mentioned that "it may have changed by the time you read this," so I offered the opportunity to click on the image. You can still do that to see who's stealing the image now -- a new window will open so you can compare with the blog shown below)...

Since then, this juicy little traffic-theft has changed hands many times, going from one high-profile celebrity-type blog to another, all the while calling the image from the anguilla-beaches.com page that actually hosts this photo.

The flavor of the day that has successfully lifted this image and "wins" the traffic that comes with that? It's the big-time, high-profile blog, popcrunch.com, shown below. Take a look...

Of course, if you click on the image above, the chances are that it may have changed once again -- it sometimes changes hands more than daily! It might stop soon because these folks are bound to see that something has changed...

I'm sure you see why. My daughter has changed the image. It still features part of the original photo of Jay-Z and Beyonce, but now it looks like this...

Yup, she has a whole bunch of free promotional "content banners" on many highly visible (and unscrupulous) blogs.

Naturally, this will stop being effective because this image will likely soon drop off Google's #1 image search result for Jay-Z (top left corner, #1, as shown in my first post on this) result for Jay-Z. Why? Because that image is no longer on the original page -- it has been replaced with a dupe that has a different file name. And it, naturally, does not rank at Google (but it will be interesting to see if it does in the future).

I'm sure, too, that some of the blogs will notice their free promotion of anguilla-beaches.com. Click here to see what popcrunch has done if the above image no longer links to popcrunch.

Until Google fixes this hole in their Image Search algorithm, if you ever do get lucky enough to obtain a high-traffic Image Search result, watch it carefully.

And if these traffic-vultures use you... use them!

All the best,