document updated 15 years ago, on Mar 5, 2009
End users often use Google to find new software. Unfortunately these searches seem to be particularly popular targets for SEO spammers. This problem is most severe when there exists free software that's better than any of the for-pay software, but the free software is pushed far down on the search results because of well-funded SEO spam.
Areas that have major SEO spam problems:
- computer geek tools
- cutsie
- black hat
Things that DON'T work to avoid SEO spam:
- including "free" as a search term. Most of these tools have a free trial version, though many of them are heavily crippled.
Things that DO work to avoid SEO spam:
- include {gpl OR "open source"}
- include {-trial -buy -try -purchase -site:qarchive.org -shareware}. However, there's still a ton of lame third-party "mass shareware listing" sites that still appear on top of the true freeware.
- include trusted freeware-only sites, for instance {site:sourceforge.net OR site:freshmeat.net}
- search specific sites:
- delicious — it tends to be slightly less spammy