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We know Google reserves the right to ban all sites on a host if the host seems to have an unusual percentage of spammy sites on it.
Well, Google banned a whole sub-domain yesterday specifically co.cc.
Google's Matt Cutts actually mentioned it on Google + but now there are lots of threads on the topic. Threads at Google Webmaster Help, DigitalPoint Forums, WebmasterWorld and even Google AdWords Help.
Googler, JohnMu, explained they can do this and have been doing this elsewhere with places like Malware issues. He said:
As he mentions there, "if we see a very large fraction of sites on a specific freehost be spammy or low-quality, we do reserve the right to take action on the freehost as a whole." Taking action like this is not really something new, and it is something that we may do elsewhere at Google as well (eg as mentioned on with regards to malware).If you feel that your particular site is in line with our Webmaster Guidelines, I would recommend submitting a reconsideration request. Additionally, if you use a subdomain on a widely used domain name, and feel that your subdomain provider is not up to par with regards to preventing and handling abuse quickly - be it webspam, phishing, or malware - you may wish to look into ways of remedying that.
That being said the Google AdWords Help forum even has an AdWords representative suggesting you do not use co.cc as a domain. The representative explained that although the TLD is not yet banned from AdWords, it is a risky TLD and it is "definitely [in] a bad neighborhood."
Forum discussion Google Webmaster Help, DigitalPoint Forums, WebmasterWorld and Google AdWords Help.
Comments:
Colin
07/01/2011 12:39 pm
Wow crazy. Is co.cc a ccTLD? Sub-domain technically?
Barry Schwartz
07/01/2011 01:10 pm
sorry, you are right, my bad.
ajbiff
07/01/2011 01:15 pm
yes, co.cc is a company i believe, using the .CC ?? and offering free redirects?
Black Seo Guy
07/01/2011 02:05 pm
Google feels like they can banned anything if you ask me, they are starting to banned a lot of YouTube channels also for no reasons as of what I been hearing. "Black Seo Guy "Signing Off"
Amy Kas
07/01/2011 11:01 pm
just like bz.cm ... the newest domain of choice for spammers.
Ijailbreak
07/02/2011 07:22 am
How about removing useless blogspot.com websites?
Nasif
07/02/2011 01:56 pm
Lol ! There are lots of bogus .blogspot websites which google should consider banning
Shiva
07/02/2011 02:22 pm
Damn bad for all those people who were hosting their (real/not spammy) sites on .co.cc subTLD...my condolences with them...this is the same reason why one should avoid "Free" things in this world..they all come with a catch...
john lewis uk
07/02/2011 02:31 pm
Its a good move, poor content sites and even domain should be banned permanently.
Dipendra-Hack Facebook
07/02/2011 04:20 pm
How to now redirect my traffic from co.cc to a .com? PLease help
Lobozebra4
07/03/2011 01:41 am
That is fucked up. This destroys the hopes and dreams for people who have tons of legit co.cc sites. Thanks Google. Fucking assholes.
Athar Rasool
07/03/2011 08:38 am
super cool. end of spam co.cc
FaiKShare
07/03/2011 12:52 pm
THE END OF SPAM & MALWARE DOMAIN??
Guest
07/04/2011 01:02 am
spammers like you especially
Rayhanzhampiet
07/04/2011 05:50 am
Google banned co.cc domain actions also impact on the loss of some backlinks I got from some blogs with domain co.cc. Poor me...!!
About Web
07/04/2011 07:03 am
I think Google been paid for removing competition.
resume
07/04/2011 07:36 am
This all about panda 2.2 !thay ban 2 my sites for nothing !its incredible insane!
PRD
07/04/2011 01:33 pm
Does Google have the right to do this? sure they do, is it ethical? No. I think Google is being highly unethical in this move. Google has sold me and continues to try to sell me products that, Google knows are being used to promote my completely legitimate, ethical, non spam co.cc domain and Google is going to willfully block search results leading to that domain, what the heck is that, I read that as fraudulent and censorship. I have played by the rules, I have never generated a single complaint. Purchasing a new domain is no big deal but losing my entire web history, back links, and all the work involved to move redirect ect, that is a major pain. Google has made a very bad move and violated the business trust of many.
PRD
07/04/2011 01:39 pm
Absolutely, and Hubpages, How to, Tumblr, Twitter, Youtube, Myspace,Facebook and the thousands of others right along with them.
D-quote
07/05/2011 03:31 am
Why should google wipe out the entire domains under co cc? I know so many people are using it to spam other but many more are not bad and in a right path.
How to Lose Weight Fast
07/05/2011 03:54 am
There must be some specific reason for deleting co cc. Only the reason that they are using for spamming is not sufficient as there will some who is using it as genuine. So Google should maintain it specific reason.
lifebiz
07/05/2011 10:45 am
Google must be crazy, I like it. Yeah, It's time to rest in peace for co.cc free domain.. Oh my, I have one paid co cc domain, what a useless 3 dollars..
aceview
07/06/2011 10:32 am
Google Banned All co.cc Domains http://t.co/RnNML8u. What a nice move to buy .com domain
ADAM
07/07/2011 08:46 pm
easy people can use other free domain provider like www.s.pe
Navnaeet
07/08/2011 09:40 am
right ban may be...:( but however i was also hosting on it
TheSmartestGenius
07/08/2011 01:49 pm
Its definitely bs maybe you can 301 an grab a real domain
TheSmartestGenius
07/08/2011 01:55 pm
Seriously guys if you didn't see this comin you gotta take a coffee shower. Take out a loan if you can't afford the 10 bucks for a real domain. Or were you hoping to grab some sweet EMD for free and seo your face off, only people cryin about this are broke ppl, spammers, and the nieve.
totoman95
07/11/2011 06:31 am
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Webmasters/thread?tid=6b1827777741a457&hl=en
phone review
07/11/2011 06:14 pm
I am not agree with the Google’s decision. Only such domain should be banned which is spamming not all co.cc domains
Backups kid
07/11/2011 08:45 pm
Being someone who developed on a .co domain this startled me a bit, a quick scratching beneath the surface put my worries aside. Although I feel that Google is at a stage where it should be able to algorithmically detect spam and remove from search index on a case by case basis. I think maybe because of the nature of this domain. Being free, and thus possibly used as a throwaway domain to spam with; there possibly may have been an extremely high percentage of spammy sites on their domain.. I personally can't see legitimate websites and businesses build on that domain, one visit to the registrar will telll you something smells fishy with the domain. Edit: my bad, just realised .co . cc isn't actually a tld.. the tld is .cc, the domain . co. cc was acting like a registrar and giving away free sub domains.
Dan
07/14/2011 04:44 pm
I see more spam and junk on blogspot, is Google going to wipe out their own service? Instead of wiping out a full on domain based on people ruining it for people that actually use the service right, Google should derank those spammy sites to the very back pages of the search index.
Manu
07/14/2011 06:26 pm
I opend the web casatumi.co.cc for charity purpose, now suddently it is banned.... Google should show itself that it can beat spams in a clever way not by banning what is given for free.
Dipendra@Hack Facebook
07/17/2011 12:59 pm
Really true. I put up 2 years serving my visitors in my domain musicbid but now its banned. Really bad news for me.
Allaroundtheroom
07/18/2011 01:18 pm
All .co.cc domains are NOT free and are NOT spam. Business domains are indeed paid for. Googles action was simply protectionism for their ELITE keyword effective .com domains. The tin gods at google should get their own algorithms etc to work effectively to weed out spam, simply by banning a whole domain extension proves they do not have the know how in reality to provide what they say they can effectivley. If anyone Pays for any domain extension google should be forced to display such websites and let their superior algorithms sort them accordingly. All google has proven to the world is that they do not really have the control over their own results as they claim, if they had, every website, no matter the extension would be ordered on googles own merit structure.
Pinkx420
07/27/2011 03:27 am
yeah.. i agree but people will just keep making even more domains so they had to completely banned read more on my blog http://webmaster-specialist.blogspot.com/2011/07/google-banned-cocc-from-search-results.html
Shadough_4747
08/22/2011 07:04 pm
Its bs google should know this is'nt going to be tolerated . I want to be my own judge on what i can search for and decide on my own weather or not i will visit and return to a site. my www.cashcow.co.cc site is a purely educational site to show people how to set up there own free websites ive created video tutorials and spent alot of time. I think by using a redirect like co.nr people will get by but for now Im removing google chrome and setting my home page to search engine that is'nt filtering my searchs.
Will Spencer
09/08/2011 09:24 am
Norma.cc does not appear to be affected by this ban. http://www.google.com/search?q=norma
Elikom86
09/09/2011 01:09 am
idiots . . . why would not they ban the .com domain? a lot of porn and malware is there . . . Fuck google.
Ncsastro
09/13/2011 04:07 am
Now it is right time to launch a new search engine for the domain ending .co.cc
Social Networking Community
10/04/2011 11:01 am
in my opinion, google should be wiser by just banning infected co.cc domains. I've seen a lot of people share great stuffs and articles on co.cc - but anyway, I see this is also a good lesson for co.cc and other free domain providers to be more careful and review every subdomain http://www.netterland.com http://www.iBuddhist.org
Marlon
12/03/2011 02:16 am
You can't be serious. What's the matter of being broke or just don't wanna pay for a nicer email address or for have a name what people can refer to? It's not a crime do not have or do not want to expend money in one of the company's that offer registration. Google just stats "our bot is not smart enough for distingish one legit site of one that it isn't; so if you want to spam, you have to pay $10 for it". Or, can't ".com" sites been spammers? And also, for whom blogspot is? for those who can't afford a self hosted wordpress installation? That doesn't mean it has to be banned. With this, Google is accepting that have more power than brain.
sogesmy
12/03/2011 06:27 am
Even the name cashcow sounds spammy. From the name, sounds like one of those make money sites, which is a spammy concept to begin with.