Update: Talks on SEO Black Hat Issues

Published: Friday, June 30, 2006 Online-Casinos.com

TALKS ON SEO BLACK HAT ISSUES PLANNED

Affiliates and senior 888.com managers jaw-jaw instead of war-war

There were promising signs this week that the affiliate sector vs. 888.com dispute over search engine optimisation black hat activities is about to enter a more constructive and consultative phase.

Some months into increasingly bitter differences (see earlier InfoPowa reports) with the online gambling affiliate sector over its alleged tolerance of "black hat" search engine optimisation tactics involving site scraping and blog spamming, 888.com executive Nicholas Lev came forward last week. Pointing to the sound reputation his company enjoyed, he condemned unethical practices and give an undertaking that his company would investigate complaints and take action against any affiliate found indulging in bad SEO practices.

The giant online casino group has been the target of repeated criticism for allegedly turning a blind eye or profiting from the black hat practices of some of its marketing affiliates. Allegations include site scraping or content theft, inappropriate targeting and the irrelevant spamming of blogs in attempts to push the search engine rankings of 888.com higher. Several prominent affiliate sites have roundly condemned the activities as prejudicial to affiliates and unethical in nature, and have disassociated themselves from 888.

There has also been widespread and continuous criticism of 888.com, mainly by affiliates on a diversity of leading public message boards around the Internet, and suggestions that affiliates take retaliatory action by linking their sites and publicising the issue. A serious irritant for affiliates has been the hitherto public silence on the issue by 888.com.

Led by Casino Affiliate Programs owner Lou Fabiano, moves were afoot this week to establish useful dialogue with 888.com. Fabiano reported that initial conversations with senior managers Nicolas Lev and Brian Kohn were "....encouraging. 888 has indicated they are committed to working with CAP on a resolution to the valid concerns raised over the past several months by our affiliate members.

"Nicolas will be sending me a statement of action on the proposed changes we discussed and I will post that at CAP and here at Casinomeister upon receipt.

"The objective of these changes will be to eliminate the unethical marketing practices that have taken place in the past by removing the profit incentive for using them. These program changes coupled with public dialogue and private meetings I have scheduled with company representatives....should lead to a postive resolution for 888, their affiliate partners and the industry as a whole," Fabiano said.

Turning to earlier comments that 888.com affiliates were being singled out when black hat practices were being perpetrated by other companies and their associates, Fabiano said: "The answer is no, we are not only focusing on them, but we are addressing these [other] companies as individuals. This makes the process manageable. We will hold each group or entity responsible and accountable for their [individual] actions.

"Rome wasn't built in a day, it was built one brick at a time. 888 is the first brick in the road to a more ethical marketing enviroment for everyone."

STOP PRESS - UPDATE:

Very positive developments had taken place as InfoPowa went to press this week, with signs of real collaboration on eliminating black hat SEO practice from Lou Fabiano's CAP site, many supportive webmasters, iGAMI and senior management at 888.com

A senior Vice President at 888.com, Nicholas Lev came forward with the following firm proposals underwritten by his company:

"Dear Louis,

As discussed, the following outlines our new policies on our stance against illegal marketing activity:

1. Our Affiliate Program has instituted new contractual terms that clearly specify our stance against any illegal or unethical marketing practices, including "blog spamming" and "site scraping". To access them please use the following link to our new modified Terms and Conditions for 888.com Affiliates and note Section 2 (dead link removed)
2. In a further attempt to clarify our policies, we have also added a notice in our Affiliate Program called our "Ethical Marketing Practice Policy" which is located at bottom of the affiliates home page
3. To report any misbehavior of our affiliates please click the link called "email us" located on our Affiliate homepage, Or, alternatively you can email any complaints to the following email address, reportspam@888.com.
4. Each email will be handled as following:
   1. It will be investigated and if we determine that the affiliate has engaged in any sort of unethical activity as outlined in our Policies we will block the specific site and send a one-time warning to cease this behavior.
   2. If after receipt of one warning the behavior repeats or persists then that affiliate's account will be blocked and any further payments due the affiliate will be suspended.
   3. An email update reporting the result will then be sent to the person who emailed us the complaint within 72 hours.
5. To ensure efficient handling of all complaints, please use the e-mail above as we cannot follow complaints through forum posts on CAP or other Forums.

We look forward to working with our affiliates, potential affiliates, and CAP members in this endeavor. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or need more information."

Affiliates are being urged to give teeth to the 888.com offer by reporting known incidents of black hat practice involving its affiliates, and it is understood that a number of documented cases have already been submitted.