jatiN mahindrA doT coM

What appears to be a newbie, posted a thread at Google Webmaster Help asking why his site is not ranking yet. He also asked if he had something to do with the URL https://internal.google.com/spamteam/users/cutts/matt/ban_list/ showing up in his log files.

Got that?

https://internal.google.com/spamteam/users/cutts/matt/ban_list/

It appears to look like Matt Cutts’ personal ban list at Google. But is it really?

(1) His site is indexed in Google.

(2) Why in the world would Google show those types of referrers in people’s log files, especially those sites that are banned.

(3) The IP addresses noted by the webmaster did not seem to be from Google.

(4) Googler, JohnMu, said it is not Matt’s ban list. JohnMu went on record, and I trust him, saying:

I can assure you that the URL in the title of the thread is not a Google URL — where did you get it from?

Do you think the URL is real?

Forum discussion at Google Webmaster Help.

Related posts:

1. SEOs Continue To Dissect Eric Enge’s Interview of Google’s Matt Cutts
2. Matt Cutts: Google Probably Won’t Call PageRank Something Else
3. Matt Cutts Returns to WebmasterWorld: Caffeine Launch After Holidays
4. The Matt Cutts Hair Cut Video
5. Microsoft Bing Still Spamming Fake Referrers In Webmaster Log Files
6. Excellent Site Review Panel by Matt Cutts & Other Googlers
7. Matt Cutts of Google Now Industry’s “Hot Guy”?
8. Funny SEO Video By Fake Matt Cutts
9. More Cloaking Tests In Form Of Fake Referrers From Microsoft Bing?
10. Matt Cutts on Google Spelling Corrections
11. Matt Cutts on Social Media Links in Google
12. Google AdSense With Matt Cutts Banners