Rapid indexing of new and relevant content seems to be of increasing importance to Google and it is this that might provide the difference in search results.

Exactly how Caffeine will integrate most recently indexed content amongst the aged, authoritative content previously given prominence in Google SERPs remains to be seen. We are likely to see results shifting rather rapidly. Hot topics will float to the top of listings, but only temporarily, sinking almost as rapidly to blend with the more stable results. But that is pure speculation at this time.

Is it all about twitter-fear?

Earlier this year, twitter began aligning itself as the future of immediate search. Google got understandably nervous, and Caffeine might be the result. I doubt Google will replace the place twitter has become to so many of us as a place to get literally up to the minute news about important events.

Though still nowhere near as immediate as searching the contents of the twitter timeline, Caffeine does index and present relevant results much sooner than Google before it.

How does this affect SEO?

The jury remains out on how this enhances or inhibits direct SEO activity. We are certainly expecting to see more flexible and dynamic results for many searches as new, fresh content is intermixed with the authoritative.

There are still apparent glitches in the system right now, so no Caffeine search results can be trusted as representative at this time.

You could use some archaic unix command line text editor (I’m going to get it in the neck for that comment, I’m sure), or open up something like BBEdit – my editor of choice – and navigating to the file – a location that no matter how often I go there, I can never remember the precise path.

GasMark saves you the hassle. It is, simpy, a direct line to your hosts file, allowing editing on the fly as easily as clicking its Dock or menu bar icons, or using its customisable hotkeys.

There’s really nnothing else to say other than save yourself some pain and download GasMask.

If you want content, I’ll give you content

This was the first instance of all out scraping I had experienced, so also was the first opportunity to try out a Wordpress plugin that has been collecting dust for some time. Antileech is a plugin by Owen Winkler that replaces the content within your RSS feed – and posts – with a definable or generated message, but only for user-agents or IP addresses you specify.

The plugin adds a small, non-intrusive image to your RSS feed content that enables it to record the location and user-agent of anyone accessing the feed. These user-agents are then listed in the plugin’s settings page, each with a check-box for you to select which ones are to receive the alternative content. The default is to send normal content to all user-agents, so who sees what, is entirely under your control.

The message that counts

Some bloggers choose the default generated message – that encourages anyone reading the alternative content to visit the originating site – while others choose their own messages – some including profanity and obscene/illegal messages to increase the chances of the scraper site being shut down due to inappropriate content. I have chosen a simple message that clearly states the site is stealing content from elsewhere. Most scrapers are automated and once the site owner has set the RSS scraper to work, they rarely look at the incoming content again.

The plugin does not prevent your content from being scraped, of course, and some has to be scraped for you to discover the illegal site in the first place. But once discovered, it offers a very simple and immediate means of ensuring they get no further benefit from future posts from your site. Meanwhile, you can take measures with the site’s hosting company to formally make a complaint to have your stolen content removed.

How to know when you’re being scraped

Another plugin helps to detect scrapers. There are several that do similar jobs, but I choose to use Digital Fingerprint by Kirk Montgomery. This places a user defined string of text at the end of the first paragraph of each post in your RSS feed. Make this string unique and you can create a Google Alert for that particular string. The Alert will let you know whenever and wherever that string turns up. Most will be legitimate syndication, but now and then, you’ll probably discover someone is up to no good.

A never ending battle

Scraper sites (or “splogs”) are never going to be eradicated, and their numbers are growing. Tools like these offer the blogger a viable and effective means to retaliate without losing hours scouring the net or duplicates of their content and struggling to contact those responsible to have the content removed.

The new toolbar in particular offers greater control over what you might see in the future by not only enabling you to give a site a thumbs down, but also to give Stumbleupon some idea why it’s a thumbs down. Options are: “Not-for-me” (the standard thumbs down), “Stumbled this before”, “Too much like this lately”. There’s also a command to block a specific site from being presented in the future.

These added communications smack of Stumbleupon wanting a higher level of feedback to improve the web content they feed users. That’s a very good thing as it can sometimes be frustrating when it appears the algorithm is getting your selections all wrong.

Around ten other fixes and enhancement have also been included. You can see the changelog here.

Author : SpoomiDibebot (IP: 194.165.42.49 , 194.165.42.49)
E-mail : babader@mymail-in.net
URL    :
Whois  : http://ws.arin.net/cgi-bin/whois.pl?queryinput=194.165.42.49
Comment:
to: Admin – If You want to delete your site from my spam list, please sent url of your domain to my e-mail: stop.spam.today@gmail.com
And I will remove your site from my base within 24 hours
webmastegz

The comment did not get through, of course, because I always have comment moderation applied to blogs. (I have no reason to believe this spam comment is related to the above mentioned ethical spammers.)

I give this spammer 10 bonus points for such an original means to harvest genuine email addresses from blog owners to add to his other (email) spam list. Nice work, Mr. SpoomiDibebot (I’m guessing that is not his real name).

I wonder if such emails will also open up the possibility of unmoderated posting on the relevant blogs, too. I guess most web users will have a primary contact email address, the same one they might have attached to a blog’s admin account. The spammer then has the admin’s email plus its associated blog address. Comment moderation on bogs tends to revolve around the email address of the commenter – bingo! the spammer has a pre-approved email address which might by-pass the moderation process.

Loathe them as we do, I have to admire this one for such a (rare) original idea.

• .com domain only
• 1 year registration
• 1 use per account
• Code: 199TEST
• No information on expiry date
  

This is a great way to discover what people are saying regarding you or your company/brand. For bloggers, it can help to monitor buzz around niche subjects. Enter a TweetBleep for current news stories, and you can keep abreast of opinions and even developments, almost as they happen.

The .info domain is administered by Afilias. They recently submitted a proposal to ICANN (the global domain registry) to enable them to shut down an abusive .info domain. On the surface this is perhaps a good thing, potentially scrubbing countless spam an scraper sites from the face of the web.

Pursuant to Section 3.6.5 of the RRA, Afilias reserves the right to deny, cancel or transfer any registration or transaction, or place any domain name(s) on registry lock, hold or similar status,
that it deems necessary, in its discretion;

However, the criteria of what constitutes an “abusive domain” are suitably vague as to offer quite some discomfort to anyone with an existing, mature .info site.

Other abusive behaviors, normally identified by a pattern of material deceit, defined motive, leveraged opportunity and often conducted in a repetitive manner with or without concealment

SEOBook suggests a change in the pricing policy for .info domains, forcing them higher to remove the attraction to spammer webmasters who generate hundreds of domains, and I have to agree. Hit the spammers in their pockets.

The most worrying aspect of this is it could set a precedent for other domains. What if Verisign, the registry provider for .com and .net, had similar powers?