Isn't this search engine cheating????

[lacantina]

Ciao all,

Been learning loads of SEO thanks to Webproworld.....and its got me thinking about our comepetitor's SEO strategies...so it brings up two questions:

1. www.buyabeat.com is one of our major competitors. If you scroll down to the bottom of their index page, there are at least 50 links back to the index page filled with their keywords in minuscule unreadable 4pt text.

They're basically filling up their own page with links packed in keywords which point back at their site!

Is this allowed?? I thought that linking back to your own website within your website is penalised by most engines...especially when it's done so blatantly in small print and it has no use whatsoever in helping site navigation...!

2. www.beatsbymarkus.com

Another competitor, their index page is packed with keywords in what is disguised as an "artistic" pattern. They're not hyperlinks, but I guess it still improves the keyword density of the site radically...

Isn't this just like packing a page with keywords and hiding them by turning them into the same colour of the page background?


If these strategies are indeed NOT allowed, is there any way I can report them? The engines don't seem to have picked up on this as the sites rank well all over the web...

Your help is much appreciated!

Jani
LaCantinaProductions.com

[AndrewX]

I thought that linking back to your own website within your website is penalised by most engines.

You're kidding, right?

[lacantina]

Sigh......

Lets try again.

I am allowed to stick 50 links on the bottom of my index page in an unlegible tiny font pointing back at my index page, but with a different name?

For example:

The links are called Keyword, Keyword1, Keyword2 which respectively point to

www.website.com/Keyword.htm
www.website.com/Keyword1.htm
www.website.com/Keyword2.htm

which are exact copies of the index page.

Please give a look at the bottom of the page on www.buyabeat.com to see what I mean. It's a bit hard to explain when English isn't even your first language...

And question 2?

I'm a newbie, so any serious help is much appreciated...

Thanks!

[labeler2003]

A general rule of thumb is that if something is done just for the search engines, it's not a good idea. But that does not mean someone is "not allowed" to do it anyway.

I took a look at the web site. Some of the links are going to unique pages. It's possible the site was set up with copies of the home page as place holders for links until the real pages are built.

In any case, there are so many links on the page that essentially no page rank is transferred to any of the pages. It is divided up too much.

The links at the bottom do serve as a "site map" for search engines, allowing the additional pages to be easily found. Hwever, I don't think it's a good idea. I find having a real site map, which is linked from the home page, provides links for search engines AND directs visitors to the pages they want to find.

[freehits]

First off, those links point to different pages not a identical page, so it is a sitemap of sorts, and nothing wrong with an ugly little tiny sitemap.

Second, you have just given your competitors a link on a PageRank 6 site in your post.

So your post has gone from unwarrented to counterproductive.

I would put **NOSOUPFORYOU** in the middle of that url so they dont get a free link.

[lacantina]

A general rule of thumb is that if something is done just for the search engines, it's not a good idea. But that does not mean someone is "not allowed" to do it anyway.

I took a look at the web site. Some of the links are going to unique pages. It's possible the site was set up with copies of the home page as place holders for links until the real pages are built.

In any case, there are so many links on the page that essentially no page rank is transferred to any of the pages. It is divided up too much.

The links at the bottom do serve as a "site map" for search engines, allowing the additional pages to be easily found. Hwever, I don't think it's a good idea. I find having a real site map, which is linked from the home page, provides links for search engines AND directs visitors to the pages they want to find.

Thanks, makes a bit more sense now!

Any thoughts on question 2?

lacantina
www.lacantinaproductions.com

[AccuraCast]

2. www .beatsbymarkus .com

Another competitor, their index page is packed with keywords in what is disguised as an "artistic" pattern. They're not hyperlinks, but I guess it still improves the keyword density of the site radically...

Interesting.... they probably notched up a few penalty points for 'keyword spamming' but not enough to get them banned. The effect does look cool, though, and is probably cheaper than creating an image to do the same.

[lacantina]

2. www .beatsbymarkus .com

Another competitor, their index page is packed with keywords in what is disguised as an "artistic" pattern. They're not hyperlinks, but I guess it still improves the keyword density of the site radically...

Interesting.... they probably notched up a few penalty points for 'keyword spamming' but not enough to get them banned. The effect does look cool, though, and is probably cheaper than creating an image to do the same.

Well, they've always been doing well in Yahoo and Google...which made me wonder if their artistic keyword arrangements were giving them the results...

Thanks for your answer though, at least now I know what can and can't be done...

lacantina
www.lacantinaproductions.com

[cspelts]

beatsbymarkus.com

Another competitor, their index page is packed with keywords in what is disguised as an "artistic" pattern.

How cool! It's fun to see something so creative - and it's a great idea for keeping page-size down. That said, I doubt it's helping with search engine rank - but it is fun!

[Gary Golden]

I never spend time seeing what others are doing wrong unless they pay me for it, time is better spent on seeing what people are doing right! If there PR is higher than yours and you like what they are doing then use it yourself.

Additionally I might add that if the font is a 1 the search engines may overlook it all together so he has gained nothing.

Good Luck!