Why do XF Warez / Nulled sites rank higher in Google than reknowned sites?

[Alpha1]

If you search Google for XenForo addons then the first several pages show sites offering warez, nulled, banned developers. Only after a few pages there are legit addon sites listed. I was a little surprised to see this as it cant be good for XenForo as a whole.

Its remarkable because resources on xf.com generally have links to the support sites of legit addon developers. So you would expect those sites to rank high in Google. Somehow something is going wrong there.

 

[Kerby]

Which country is your client from? Probably the warez server are at same region/country, so for you they are higher ranked than for me.

 

[Chris D]

Do you have some example search terms which demonstrate the issue?

 

[TickTackk]

Do you have some example search terms which demonstrate the issue?

"nulled xenforo"

 

[James]

It's a compliment to how good the SEO is in the default XF software

 

[Chris D]

"nulled xenforo"

Why would that return "reknowned sites" or "legit addon sites"?

 

[Chris D]

XenForo addons

Assuming this is the actual search term, I'm generally not too surprised and I don't think this is too unusual.

Primarily, XF.com is the best place to find add-ons, and it's the best place to find links to add-ons hosted on other sites. Most people won't be searching for "Add-on XYZ by author ABC", most people will be just finding those in the RM.

People who are searching for XF add-ons, or specific XF add-ons may well be more than likely doing that to specifically find nulled add-ons. As unfortunate as that is, it's a harsh reality.

 

[Alpha1]

When I search for "Xenforo Addons" then the top two are xenforo.com and directly under that there are various warez & nulled sites. Google does return different results for different google domains. For Google.com the result is a little better than google.nl

Various nulled / warez sites are ranked multiple times before reputable sites are listed.

I think one factor is that a lot of people search google for "XenForo nulled addons" so when you search for "XenForo addons" sites that rank for the former will also appear high.
But it also seems to be caused by low ranking of reputable addon developers. Which is something xenforo.com might be able to help with.

 

[Alpha1]

Primarily, XF.com is the best place to find add-ons, and it's the best place to find links to add-ons hosted on other sites.

Indeed. But why are the sites that xenforo.com links to not ranking higher than warez sites? You would think that xenforo.com has authority on xenforo related topics. It makes me wonder if the links from the RM to reputable addon sites are appropriately indexed and valued by Google.

 

[TickTackk]

Which country is your client from? Probably the warez server are at same region/country, so for you they are higher ranked than for me.

Most or any "script kiddie" nulled content sharing sites are hosted on US servers only to get more US visitors. Why get more US visitors? Because ad networks pay more for US traffic.

Why would that return "reknowned sites" or "legit addon sites"?

You're right here. So I searched for official add-on. Searched for "xenforo resource manager" and the last result was interesting

 

[Chris D]

Which is something xenforo.com might be able to help with.

How so?

Purchase links to developer's sites aren't actually nofollow.

The more info link is nofollow but that shouldn't matter if there's other links which aren't nofollow.

Indeed. But why are the sites that xenforo.com links to not ranking higher than warez sites? You would think that xenforo.com has authority on xenforo related topics. It makes me wonder if the links from the RM to reputable addon sites are appropriately indexed and valued by Google.

Maybe that's the case, but I'm certain there's little we can do about that. But I go back to the same point - generally people aren't going to be going anywhere but here to search for add-ons in the general sense.

Most or any "script kiddie" nulled content sharing sites are hosted on US servers only to get more US visitors. Why get more US visitors? Because ad networks pay more for US traffic.


You're right here. So I searched for official add-on. Searched for "xenforo resource manager" and the last result was interesting
View attachment 131900

Again, generally not unusual.

 

[Arty]

I think its because Google doesn't have much choice. Add-ons are usually legitimately listed only in 2 places: xenforo.com and author's website. That's it. There aren't any third party collections and active unofficial support websites to list after that, like free software tend to have.

Often add-on author's websites don't have many incoming links, so they rank lower than warez websites.

 

[Alpha1]

How so?

There are various ways to boost other sites if you have the authoritative site. One way would mean to list addon websites in a rich manner with proper microdata, keywords and affiliation / backlinking scheme.
There are also whitehat methods to lower ranking of sites. Let me know if you want information on that.

Purchase links to developer's sites aren't actually nofollow.

Indeed. But they are pretty bad in SEO though. nofollow is only a relevant factor. One of many.
Here is the current html:

<div class="footnote">
                    <a href="http://support.cliptheapex.com/" target="_blank">Find more info at support.cliptheapex.com...</a>
                </div>

That's pretty barebones and will not do anything else than direct the reader to the site. It will not increase the ranking of the addon website significantly.

Maybe that's the case, but I'm certain there's little we can do about that. But I go back to the same point - generally people aren't going to be going anywhere but here to search for add-ons in the general sense.

Its actually relatively easy to resolve if XF LTD has any desire to do so.
As you see in the screenshot above people will use Google to search not only for 3rd party addons but also for official XF software. Google then serves them illegal software sites which may give people ideas they previously didn't consider.

 

[Jeremy P]

Google tailors results to the individual based on previous searches, clicks, location, and things like that.

Only one warez site appears on the first page of results for me when searching 'XenForo add-ons', with three on the second page.

To be honest, I'm not sure it's worthwhile to chase after these sorts of things. If people are willing to steal add-ons they'll probably be able to find a way, unfortunately.

 

[Senpai]

isnt there a way to shut down nulled forums i seen vbulletin do it .

 

[Alpha1]

XF can ask Google to remove them from their index due to DMCA filings / copyright infringement. ChillingEffects / Lumen is your friend.

 

[Senpai]

XF can ask Google to remove them from their index due to DMCA filings / copyright infringement. ChillingEffects / Lumen is your friend.

yeh thats what i mean

 

[Mouth]

Primarily, XF.com is the best place to find add-ons

Private investment organisation doing domain camping?

 

[rainmotorsports]

Private investment organisation doing domain camping?

The staff and most of the fans refuse to stop using XF.com as their example. They think people are smart enough to realize what they are talking about...

 

[Mouth]

The staff and most of the fans refuse to stop using XF.com as their example. They think people are smart enough to realize what they are talking about...

Yeah - would be a good item for /admin.php?options/list/censoringOptions#_censorWords for automatic correction