Google expert: Frustrate spammers to ward off bots
Using tactics designed to frustrate spammers attempting to bombard sites with bot-comments can prove an effective step towards better security, a Google expert has claimed.
Matt Cutts, who leads the search engine firm’s Webspam operation, told a US conference that captcha systems were a good tool for this purpose.
These are programmes which pose questions to users submitting comments onto a website - designed to ensure that the poster is a real person and not a spambot, Bluhalo reports.
Mr Cutts also had some general comments in his speech regarding Google’s position on search engine optimisation.
"SEO is not spam. Google does not hate SEO," he claimed.
"There are plenty of white-hat SEO [companies] who can help you out."
The reference to "white-hat" SEO refers to responsible users of the technique - as opposed to "black-hat", on the other hand, refers to SEO practices such as spamdexing, which are widely regarded as unethical.
