Weird search phrase in logs (and how their total sum can be worth a lot)

[Blazingpie]

I was going through the stats on one of the sites I work on and came across this search phrase:

WHERE BUY COCAINE INTERNATIONAL RX

.... the site in question sells vitamins.

....

What in the hell? Great, Google now thinks that the client's site is in the narcotics industry :p (heh heh)

Still, this does tie in with what Matt Cutts says, that if you check your logs you'll find the weirdest search phrases used...

Which made me wonder... if you took the total sum of your long tail queries (that is, the keywords or phrases that generate far less traffic/sales than your top traffic-generating/money-making ones), would they have generated more sales than your main keywords? I started a bit of research and came across this new SEO tool, http://www.mylongtail.com

Im thinking of giving it a try, it could prove to be really useful :)

[Paz]

Hi,

absolutely right, I always go through my logs to find out how people are arriving at my site.

It also gives you a lot of insight about search engines work, especially when you can figure out how "How the hell do I rank for that???". I find those hits usually relate to an article or blog I wrote a few months back.....

I've tried mylongtail and it's pretty cool.....

If anyone wants a look at how it works, send me a PM and I'll give you the login details.

Cheers,
Paz.

[Webzcas]

Two of my sites, each in different industries are being targetted by weblog referal spam. Using the keywords Free ****o

Now other than really skewing my weblog stats software which is most annoying, what would be the benefit for the person doing this. Seeing as the stats software is not publically accessible.

[Chatmaster]

Webzcas

Have you been able to do any kind of identification as to whom is responsible or who is the source of this spam?

[Webzcas]

Webzcas

Have you been able to do any kind of identification as to whom is responsible or who is the source of this spam?

No idea at all. Cannot pinpoint it to an ip address. All I am seeing are the words Free ****o appearing very high in the list of search terms used to find my sites.

[Paz]

Now other than really skewing my weblog stats software which is most annoying, what would be the benefit for the person doing this. Seeing as the stats software is not publically accessible.

LOL, well I'm afraid that many people still proudly make their logs publically available, and .edu webmasters are the worst culprits, as do many webmasters outside the US and europe who don't know any better.

You can block referral spam with .htaccess, using something like:

RewriteEngine on

# Block Referrer Spam

# Drugs / Herbal

RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sleep-?deprivation) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (sleep-?disorders) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (insomnia) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (phentermine) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (phentemine) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (vicodin) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (hydrocodone) [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} (levitra) [NC,OR]
.........

and the list goes on into 100's if not 1000s as you can imagine, but you can cut and paste relevant keywords from this resource:
http://www.ilovejackdaniels.com/apache/block-referrer-spam/

Cheers,
Paz.