Google’s Matt Cutts Aims to Fight Virtual Blight

Matt Cutts Is Thrilled to Be Here

Google’s Web spam cop looks tickled to be at the Web 2.0 Summit.
Virtual Blight … Ewwwww

What does a rotten, stunted Web site smell like?
Virtual Blighting with Links

Spammers look to steal links to infect.
Link Blight Example

Here’s some link blight in action.
Landing Page Blight

Spammers set up pages on your site.
Example

Here’s an example of landing page blight.
Infectious Code

“Virtual blighters” also use malicious code to infiltrate sites.
Landing Page Blight Solution

Use CAPTCHA! And Pray. Among other things.
Hacking!

Hacking is an obvious form of virtual blight.
Example

Cutts showed a Google hire how his site had been hacked. The blocked-out letters include the employee’s name.
How to Prevent Hacks

Lots of patches, etc.
Think Like a Black Hat to Ward Off Spammers

Cutts says you need to think like the bad guys to thwart malicious invaders.


