Scraper sites: pesky opportunists
Posted by Juliet on January 7th, 2009Don’t you hate scrapers? OK, unless you’re a web geek you might not know what one is*. But have you ever typed in a website address slightly incorrectly and got a page which at first glance looks like the one you’re after… but then you realise it’s an imposter? Let’s say you type in what you think is the URL for the Smith homepage but miss out a letter ‘S’ somewhere in the middle of the address – well chances are you’ll get one. Ugh. And I’m not going to dignify their existence by putting in an example link here, sorry.
Apart from all the breach of copyright issues with the content, the problem these scraper sites present within the travel industry is they can divert users to unlicensed agents or dupe web surfers into making a booking not with the hotel or company they think they’ve sought out.
Anyway, that’s my spleen vented. Just beware! Oh – and just to say that a slip of the URL typing doesn’t always lead to a scraper. The URL for our stylish self-catering collection Smith and Friends is www.smithandfriends.com. But visit the www.smithandfriends.co.uk version and you’ll get a life coach company. Probably not quite as much fun if you’re planning a holiday with friends, but hey, at least they’re not a scraper!
So, a top tip to hotels setting up their websites for the first time would be: register slight variations on your main URL too, which butterfinger typers are most likely to type in accidentally. I guess following that advice we should have bagsied www.mrandmrsmith.com, too. Ha! but at least I just exacted some small revenge by linking that bad boy back to the innovators not the imitators. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr & Mrs Mith, whoever you are…
*Wikipedia has a good explanation of what scraper sites are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scraper_site
You tell it how it is Juliet!! That Mr and Mr has me riled!!
By Tamara
On January 9th, 2009
I also hate the one for Tiny Url, which I have stupidly tried to use a couple of times after lackadaisical linking… grrrrr
By Lucy
On January 9th, 2009
I totally agree! I hate them and if I do hit one by mistake just get out as quickly as possible…
By Lisa Corcoran
On January 9th, 2009