These junk websites  operate by going round the web and lifting 
copyrighted material from elsewhere. I have found some of my own 
stuff on these sites, and I have seen bylines of people I know would 
not contribute to them. Often, they remove the byline, so there is no 
proof of authorship anyway.  The quality of content is massively 
variable, because as well as lifting from reputable sources, they 
lift from poor sources as well. It's a big scam.

They are put together very cheaply. I have seen ads for 'web 
editors'  with pitching services (where a client posts a job spec and 
applicants bid for it)  and seen how little the winning bidder is 
asking. People can sit at home with their computer and surf the web 
for material which they then upload.  They do it for just a few 
pennies an hour - literally.

Google ads and other ads are automatically inserted, triggered by 
keywords in the text.

Pregnancy, birth, baby care, infant feeding are huge topics for this 
sort of scamming.  The owners of the website buy up domain names, and 
work out how to get their scam-sites coming near the top of any 
search results.

I don't think there is anything anyone can do about it.  Obviously, 
as literate web-users, and people who know about a particular topic, 
we can usually recognise a junk website. I would like to think that 
schools are teaching kids how to assess information on the web, too.

Heather Welford Neil
NCT bfc, tutor, UK
(journalist and writer in the day job)

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