yousurf.co.uk shows no backward links even though it used to and is
listed on dmoz and yahoo, my alexa toolbar als says it has sites
linking to it, has it been blacklisted? will they come back?

Hi there,

I have identified a number of reasons for this being the case.

Problem #1 - Mirroring
======================

Mirror sites. http://yousurf.net and http://yousurf.co.uk have the
same index page. Google doesn't like this. A Q&A at Searchengineguide
gives this answer from Jill Whalen:
 
Q: Our site is getting over 500 visitors per day, and I know that it
is listed on a fair few sites including some of my own. However the
Google backward links toolbar says that it cannot find any links?
 
A: Lately, it appears that those who own a number of sites on similar
topics are running into problems like yours. Many people have created
multiple domains for just one company in hopes of having an added
presence on the Internet, and specifically within the search engines.
Google has been cracking down on this type of thing, and has been
experimenting with some automatic filters to sniff them out.
http://www.searchengineguide.com/whalen/2002/0418_jw1.html 

Google has indexed 156 pages of the site:
://www.google.com/search?q=+site:www.yousurf.co.uk+yousurf

They try to redirect to yousurf.net - and fail. They are all of
similar size and keywords. They seem to be generated by a program
designed to get the site more search engine hits, and are stuffed full
of links to each other. The file names have been generated from a list
of keywords.

Occasionally this works (and I sometimes see search engine results
littered with this type of content), but in general Google picks up on
this and blacklists a website.

Google says:

"Don't - Use programs that generate lots of generic doorway pages."
://www.google.com/webmasters/dos.html

Problem #2 - Time out
=====================

Many times while researching this question I was unable to gain access
to pages at yousurf.co.uk. And strangely Google cache copies timed out
as well. Google says:

"Your site may not have been reachable when we tried to crawl it
because of network or hosting problems. When this happens, we retry
multiple times, but if the site cannot be crawled, it will not be
listed in our current index. If it was a transient problem, your site
will likely show up in the next index, which will be completed in a
few weeks."
://www.google.com/webmasters/2.html

Problem #3 - FFA directories
============================

One of the worst things a webmaster can do is use a service which
promises to submit your site to thousands of search engines. Most of
these are Free For All (FFA) and can be detrimental to search engine
rankings. Search engine expert Paul Bruemmer points out three
strategies hyped in the past should be avoided because they're now
worthless or can get you penalized in search engines:

1. Link Farms: A link farm is a network of sites linking to other
sites for the sole purpose of increasing link popularity. Search
engines consider this spamming and will delist sties associated with
link farms.

2. Reciprocal Link Exchange Services: Networks consisting of hundreds
of webmasters with sites on numerous topics are linked to one another.
The service requires linking to all sites in network, making content
unrelated. Search engines consider this spamming.

3. FFA Listings: Free for All listings appear and disappear rather
quickly. Few people search through the listings except for spammers
collecting email addresses. These sites are not indexed by search
engines.
http://www.searchengineguide.com/wi/2002/0809_wi1.html

Yousurf.co.uk is on a FFA page at:
http://www.phonecallmall.com/link_directory/free_cellular_phone_ringtone.htm

When helping webmasters with your type of problem previously, I have
noticed it coinciding with using eSpotting. The eSpotting links
occuring on 3rd party sites are dynamically generated, and for some
reason Google might be penalising sites that use eSpotting in
conjunction with other negatives like doorway pages.

Typical eSpotting link for yousurf:
http://www.toxiclemon.co.uk/t/email/free-email-card.htm

My Opinion
==========

Google has to some degree blacklisted the site for trying to
manipulate search engine results, by using programs that generate lots
of generic doorway pages, and by using a mirror site at yousurf.net.

Because yousurf is listed in the Google Directory, it will still
appear in Google's index. However, all links in and out of the site
are being disregarded - hence no backward links appearing.


Research Strategy:
Personal experience

I trust this answers your question. If any portion of my answer is
unclear, please ask for clarification.

Best wishes,
robertskelton-ga

thanks a lot, the co.uk and .net have to mirror because of the design
of the isp, the interface works on the .net and the.co.uk works as the
home page. but thanks a lot.