A while ago those websites using PlugRush were nailed by Google in a very bad way (see story here).
I’m not sure that many of them ever recovered. Imagine how bad it would be to lose all of your search engine traffic over night, all for using an advertising platform like PlugRush?
Some webmasters just gave up and went out of business or had to start new websites all together to try and rebuild because their Google penalties were so bad they couldn’t ever overcome them.
To this day nobody really knows why Google punished PlugRush users, above all others so harshly. I mean sure, they were violating the rules with mobile redirection but still, it just seemed odd that this company got sort of picked out to be made an example of and everyone who was using their services paid the price.
Some time has now passed and I wondered one day just how things were going for them. Were people still using their services? Turns out some people are and one website owner in particular isn’t happy about it either.
According to this poor website owner (Cam Insider) he sent Plugrush at least 500 clicks (visitors who clicked on his banner) in one day – but PlugRush only reported 14 of those.
There is always going to be a 10% or 20% difference between what Google Analytics reports and what other stats programs will report. It’s just how it is. But this is far from that. This is a big big difference and far to much of one to ignore.
So as a website owner, you really have to ask yourself — why the hell aren’t they reporting all the traffic he is sending them?
Back in the day some programs would misreport some traffic but this takes skimming traffic to a whole new level.
And that my friends is a problem – a very serious one for those using their services.
I don’t know how much of this story from Cam Insider is true – because well they aren’t my sites so I can’t see with my own eyes. But I know enough and have been around long enough to know that when I do hear shit like this, it’s time to seriously start looking into my own stats.
So if you use Plug Rush, it’s time to take a serious look at your own stats and see what is going on and if your numbers aren’t adding up – move on.
The writing is clearly on the wall.
Don’t say you haven’t been warned!
*** Update: So it turns out the information originally reported was inaccurate because it was presented in a way that was misleading. While there is still a problem with Plugrush – the problem isn’t that they are skimming traffic, it’s that they are sending fake traffic – or at least according to this site owner who originally calling the company out.
This website owner didn’t send their traffic to Plug Rush and then Plug Rush misreported it. This website owner BOUGHT traffic from Plug Rush and they said they sent him over 500 unique visitors but in fact that really only sent him 14 according to his own stats.
So basically this guy paid for like 500 people, actually got 14. So it’s a case of flat out fraud. When you spend money and are told they sent you XXX visitors and you only got XX, well obviously that’s a problem.
That still sucks – no matter how you look at it and makes you really question why anyone is still doing business with these guys.
But as one person put it “If y’all don’t realize the traffic broker game is just one giant circle jerk then, well…..have luck!“
I couldn’t have quite honestly said it better myself.
Some people have said basically they didn’t know what this guys problem is, they’ve always been solid. But then another guy was quick to remind everything – that’s far from the case.
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No, they were not always solid. Around the time epass vanished, Plugrush did the same. People did not hear a single word for a long time and no money was paid out during that time.
They then later came back, in full force and paid everyone and started over. But to say “always solid and not ever a problem” is just wrong. It was a huge problem to many and at that time they proved to be not so solid.