Is this ethical SEO?

[benlavic]

Looking at pages that are above my site in the google rankings, I noticed this page

http://www.perfectpage.co.uk/hampton/flooring_surrey.htm

Which at first glance seems to be just a image and an enter buttom, but when looking at the source code or using a text-based browser, shows a large amount of text and links to other similar designed pages. Is this a trend worth copying to raise my rankings or is it just cheating?

Ben

 

[jstreich]

It's cheating, and search engines eventually find them and remove them for it. Google is typically pretty good at catchinf stuff like this, so expect them to dissappear anyday now.

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[Foamcow]

Hmm.

Actually it's just using a <noscript> tag. This is legitimate although open to abuse.

Using it to replace a flash element is, I suppose, a reasonable use. They aren't really trying to deceive anyone.

Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
Target Marketing Communications - Advertising, Direct Marketing and Public Relations
I wonder what possesses people to make those animated gifs. Do you just get up in the morning and think, "You know what web design r

 

[jstreich]

Sorry ! jumped the gun. I read the parent post without looking at the site and jumped to the conclussion that they were doing <font color=#FFFFFF> or style="color: #FFFFFF" to hide the fact that text was there. After looking at it, in this case it isn't cheating...

The big way to abuse it would be to spam a <noscript> with links just to up the link count and search terms indexed.

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[ChrisHirst]

That'll be the worst kind of spam then

Sites Placed Above Mine

Chris.

Indifference will be the downfall of mankind, but who cares?
Woo Hoo! the cobblers kids get new shoes.
People Counting Systems

So long, and thanks for all the fish.

 

[benlavic]

Thanks for your replies, but I would have thought this could be covered under the making content just for search engines.

 

[ChrisHunt]

No, it's making content for any visitor with scripting turned off - that will include users of text-only browsers and, perhaps, some screen-reader users as well as search engine spiders. It's certainly ethical, and actually rather laudable.

The only problem is that it won't be displayed to people who have scripting but don't have the Flash plug-in installed/enabled, which (one would think) is what the alternative text is there for. I think they should be putting this content inside the <object> element instead.

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[Foamcow]

agreed

Foamcow Heavy Industries - Web design and ranting
Target Marketing Communications - Advertising, Direct Marketing and Public Relations
I wonder what possesses people to make those animated gifs. Do you just get up in the morning and think, "You know what web design r

 

[jstreich]

As an avid lynx user I agree. <noscript> can be a god send... especially when all the sites whose content is hidden in JS or Flash.

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[jstreich]

To reiterate, <noscript> is often missused and abused -- but just because some sites do doesn't mean this particular site is. Infact, if you want to see why it's a good thing, look at it on your cell phone or with lynx (if you've got a linux box lying arround (-- doesn't everyone?)) -- and realize that without that code you'd be looking at nothing.

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[xtendscott]

ALL SEO is unethical. Everyone should stop right now.



xtendscott
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