Omaha Steve needs some tech help! (keep it kicked)

[Omaha Steve]

Somehow somebody has removed my election site from Google: http://stevedawes2012.com/

Does anyone know how to correct this?

OS

[elleng]

1. Wish I could help, Steve.

KICK

[Gman]

2. It works...

at least I think that's your pic and it sounds like you. In other words, it doesn't look hacked and it's online.

[Omaha Steve]

6. Google my name and the other site comes up

I guess they really are afraid of me!

That is a photo shop picture of me while we are talking about it.

OS

[grasswire]

7. they worked really hard to google bomb you, Steve n/t

[Omaha Steve]

29. It's not a bomb

They removed my site from Goggle period. It was always at the top.

OS

[obliviously]

41. Walmart is hiring.

Just sayin'

[Gman]

3. And it's a pretty good looking and informative website

[Honeycombe8]

4. Is this a spam post? Your site is there. nt

[peacebird]

5. This site still works from my iPad. I can check tomorrow from my PC....

[Lisa0825]

8. The direct link works. I think he means that when you google his name, his site no longer

comes up in the search results.... at least not page 1. But the anti-steve site does come up in page 1 of the results.

[krispos42]

9. Is this what it's suppose to look like?

[pkdu]

10. Someone created "electstevedawes.com" on Feb 16th thru godaddy

Then "google-bombed" that site by hitting google.com with lots of searches for hose words/ site.

They also posted a lot of comments at websites , mentioning the fake site ...see topix.net


Only way round it I know is asking our DU buddy's to google- bomb the real site.?

[sabrina 1]

11. Yes, google bomb he real site. How do we do that?

[pkdu]

17. Go to google.com. Search for " Steve Dawes 2012 " many times

I'm sure there are wys to automate this it manual repeat searches work

[sabrina 1]

20. Thanks, I will do that.

Would it help him if someone started an OP here using the title of his real website?

I see the rightwinger freepers are the cause of this. They simply cannot win by playing fair, always have to use dirty tricks in order to win.

Anyhow, thanks, I will do what you suggested.

[Oilwellian]

12. Surprise surprise, the source of your trouble

The residents of the Conservative Cave have taken it upon themselves to help out a DUmmie who is running for city council of the city of Bellevue, Nebraska. Omaha Steve, aka Steve Dawes, is the only "D" in a 4 man primary consisting of 2 "R's", a "L", and himself. After viewing his lame attempt of a campaign website http://stevedawes2012.com/, we took it upon ourselves to release a new and improved website for Steve: http://www.electstevedawes.com/.

We feel the new website better explains Steve's true political leanings, expressed in his own words, referenced by his numerous postings at the DUmp. Please copy and paste the new website address as much as possible, use it freely.

Thank you.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2862623/posts

[Gman]

13. It's not irreparable

you need a good search engine management person. There's lots that can be done.

[limpyhobbler]

15. Not a bad idea at all

Maybe seek some pro SEO advice.

I wonder what would happen if we all linked to his real site... Couldn't hurt.

Like Steve Dawes for Council

It can take time (sometimes months) for these things to turn around.
If a LOT of people linked to the real site it could help. Those fake websites will still be there though. But they might sink a little.

[aquart]

19. Does this do it?

[link:http://stevedawes2012.com/|

[limpyhobbler]

24. or maybe just http://stevedawes2012.com

or maybe just http://stevedawes2012.com ? I think that method will also help if a lot of people link to the site.

[Gman]

32. I don't think it's a google bomb and it doesn't take long

Just very good search engine management. That's one area I never needed to know much about so I don't know much about how it's done. But I believe what they're doing is based on information in the header portion of the web page. There are books available on how to make your page come up at the top or among the top links. And it doesn't take long at all. You can find lots of good info if you google "search engine management".

[limpyhobbler]

14. oh wow.

That stinks. Your opponents are good at search engine manipulation. Something similar to what was done with Santorum, except he deserved it. If anybody has a blog or website, if you get a chance, consider linking to Omaha Steve's real website. The more inbound links he has, it could help boost his page rank for the search results. Try to link using relevant terms. Like Steve Dawes. Or Steve Dawes Bellevue Omaha Steve consider setting up a bunch of websites if you haven't yet. Make sure your campaign has a twitter facebook tumblr google+, maybe even wordpress blogspot sites associated with it. Link all of them back to your main site. Link some of them to each other. Update them randomly every one to two days. Update you main website every day so Google will crawl it more. Maybe contact friends like at your political party or union and ask them to link to you. If bigger, more popular sites link to you it will help more with ranking. Consider posting in Computer Help or Blogger groups on DU for ideas.

[NavyDem]

16. Maybe contact Google and show them the CC thread?

https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/


May be able to get there BS site TOS'd from search results.

[Electric Monk]

18. +1

[Uncle Joe]

22. That sounds like a good idea. n/t

[NavyDem]

23. Well...

I figure that google bombing would be tampering with the search algorythm, and would be a violation of the TOS. Another angle, although I doubt it would to look into a DMCA takedown of the site, since it is using Omaha Steve's name. I don't know that that would work, because in the past I've seen it go both ways.

[ellisonz]

21. Kick.

[Ms. Toad]

25. You can try filing a domain name dispute with ICAAN

Not always successful, but if you can establish that your name is a trade or service mark (and many politicians can), that they have no legitimate interest in the domain name (and unless they are Steve Dawes they don't), and that they are using it in bad faith, you may be able to force them to turn it over to you (and any other similar domain names they acquire).

It's not a sure deal (particularly since it is somewhat of a balancing act and you are local rather than national which makes it harder to establish common law rights to your name as a mark - and they are engaging in political speech which tips against the use being bad faith - although the fact that they are being somewhat misleading tips the other direction).

You're in famous company, at least. http://tcattorney.typepad.com/domainnamedispute/2008/03/political-candi.html (No connection with the firm, and not recommending them, I've just been around the edge of a few non-political cyber-squatting cases so I went looking to see what the prospects were for political cybersquatting)

As noted in the article (for future reference for anyone else thinking about running for office) it is a pretty cheap investment to buy up the common domain name variations of your name before you announce your candidacy.

[NavyDem]

26. Thank you...

That's what I was alluding to in my above post concerning a DMCA. Omaha Steve's name is his intellectual property. Been a while since I've been in the domain dispute arena.

[Ms. Toad]

27. The DMCA would be less useful

They have some stuff posted which is protected by copyright - but a lot of what is posted isn't or would likely fall under fair use. Steve could poke holes in it with takedown notices for bits and pieces, but case law has made it harder to get wholesale takedowns - particularly in a political context, and the prevalence of hidden registrations makes it a lot less harder than it used to be to get hold of the disinterested ISP who would take it down rather than be pick up copyright infringement liability for a customer.

(All part of why SOPA and PIPA were being pushed - the DMCA, which was a relatively well balanced tool as it was drafted hasn't been enforced that way, so companies whose cash flow depends on not having their IP copied and disseminated for free are pushing for a super-DMCA)

[FreeState]

28. Be we to install Google Analytics on your site

http://www.google.com/analytics/

While it won't ensure a top rating you can at least ensure goole is indexing your site more often.

[Gman]

33. Very good suggestion

[rucky]

30. You need to start sending out press releases that link back to your site.

for one.

There's not much you can do about that bogus site, other than file a complaint with their host & registrar... and compete for clicks.

[limpyhobbler]

34. That would help. The more links to his real website the better.

Like http://stevedawes2012.com

Or

Elect Steve Dawes

[UnrepentantLiberal]

31. Kick

[frogmarch]

35. Kick!

Freepers are beneath contempt.

[grasswire]

36. It wasn't started on freerepublic.com

It was started on conservativecave.com, by the people who were involved in the death of DU-er Andy Stephenson some years ago. The owner of conservativecave is Fred Grady, who claims to live in Nebraska. He happens to also be a long-time Freeper.

Weeks ago this google-bombing of the site they set up to divert searches from Steve's legitimate site was discussed on DU.

[polly7]

40. Ugh ...

[grasswire]

37. GO DADDY can correct this

From the prior thread, a post from DU-er Ban The GOP, who took the time to look into this:

I have talked to a GoDaddy representative, and they said that in cases where the obvious attempt of a website is to deflect search engine results of legitimate search requests, they can remove ownership of the domain and either make the site dormant, or transfer ownership of the site to the real owner (in this case Steve Dawes). But they have to get the request from Dawes himself. All he has to do to provide proof is to show them the offending site, as well as the posts at other sites that are intended to manipulate the search results.

Actually, this happens more routinely than most people. While it's ok to have opposition sites up, it's NOT ok to manipulate legitimate search requests so that your site comes up. This is ESPECIALLY true for republican scum sites who try to hijack legitimate, progressive sites like Dawes.'

Hopefully, Steve's campaign manager will be able to make the arrangements. This is crucial, because though Steve will most probably win Ward 1 handily, the way the wingnuts are trying to obviously usurp this election through digital terrorism is not only juvenile and sophomoric, but a complete bastardization of the progressive democratic process.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/125124194

[Omaha Steve]

39. THANK YOU!

[Egalitarian Thug]

38. K&R. n/t