Details
- Vector type:
- 302 Attack
- Risk level:
- Largely Ineffective
- Impact level:
- Likely None
This is an old method which involves pointing a 302 redirect at the target URI for a period of time, before revoking it. the general idea behind this is that Google will associate the target domain’s rankings with the attacker’s URL.
Essentially, you would 302 redirect URL A to URL B for four or more crawl cycles, before revoking the 302 redirect. Google may then rank URL A instead of URL B. This was successfully demonstrated a few years ago by Dan Petrovic of DejanSEO, causing Google to take punitive action against his agency.
A variant of this was done using a Canonical Link – the same principals and effects.
Defense
Although Google seem to have largely eliminated this particular NSEO vector, it’s still worth mentioning.
The best approach is to monitor your traffic from and rankings in Google Search. If you see significant fluctuations (often associated with canonical issues,) or a sudden decline without anything being de-indexed, it’s worth checking what’s ranking instead of you.