Internet Marketing and SEO Dirty Tricks

Internet Marketing and SEO
Dirty Tricks

Visit any forum on internet marketing seo and it won’t be long before you see a discussion about search engine marketing no-nos. Or what you might call the internet marketing seo forbidden fruit. That is, a collection of somewhat dubious tactics used by some (no not you) to get better search engine ranking.

Uh-oh. Search engine spam.

Not to disappoint those looking for a quick fix or shortcut to top search engine ranking, it’s true "over optimization" techniques (to put it politely) can work. At least in the short term.

But so called internet marketing seo dirty tricks can also get your site banned for life by the likes of Google.

Still I feel you are entitled to know what you may be up against as you claw your way to top search engine ranking. Even though, as I realize, I’m getting close to the electric fence just by bringing these up.

Yet I’ll risk it in an effort to cover all the internet marketing and seo bases. Just don’t blame me if you get zapped like a bug in a bug zapper for doing something you shouldn't. As these are tricks you probably should NOT do. Or at least carefully consider the downside before trying them. (And don’t go snooping around my site to see which if any of these I use myself.)

Now just so you can’t say I didn’t warn you, here’s Google’s List of Dos and Don’ts. Provided to help you weigh the risks and decide how aggressively you want to pursue tactics like these.

That done, here goes.

Internet Marketing SEO Dirty Trick #1:
Tons of Title Tags Anyone?

I saw this mentioned in an ezine. Someone asked the publisher why their site didn’t rank better. Upon closer inspection the site had, among other things, multiple title tags. Interesting trick. Since one well done title tag is good, stacking many must be that much better? Beats me. But some seem to think so.

Internet Marketing SEO Dirty Trick #2: Tiny Text

Text small enough to need a magnifying glass, or in my case bifocals, is considered tiny. Font size one text, usually found at the bottom of the page, is the tool of choice and would be darn near microscopic.

Workaround? If you insist on going tiny, you might test keyword laden text of font size two on a secondary site. (That would be one you don't care about.) To see if you get swatted for search engine spam or rake in the big bucks with a top ranking.

Internet Marketing SEO Dirty Trick #3:
Invisible Text

Along the same lines here’s an oldie. Search engine tricksters used to make keyword laden text the same color as the background. Whether using a gif or background color in a table cell.

Invisible text was once an effective trick for juicing a page's keyword density. Most search engines have caught on to that and will ban or reject pages that use it.

Sure such keyword stuffing is hard to see. But if caught search engines have no trouble seeing their way clear to show you the door.

Internet Marketing SEO Dirty Trick #4:
Hiding Keywords in FORM Tags

Got a site with a sign up form? Yeah who doesn’t? Here’s an internet marketing seo dirty trick that’s perfect.

Put a keyword laden sentence in that tag along the lines of

<INPUT NAME="unknown" VALUE="Get "KW1" ideas
"KW2" tips and "KW1" tricks here!" TYPE="hidden">
Invisible right? No harm no foul, right? Dunno. Only your web designer knows for sure.

Internet Marketing SEO Dirty Trick #5:
Hiding Links in GIFs

Invisible 1x1 pixel gifs with anchor text is another common stealth technique. The idea is to lure search engine bots and spiders onto another page. Most often a hallway page loaded with links.

Workaround? Since the tiny gifs are easy to spot why not create images in varying non-square sizes. Like 5 by 20 pixels. The idea is to suggest a legit graphic and hide links in those.

Just remember search engines like Google and Alta Vista can detect graphics by size. Or if a human catches you using invisible links hidden in images to goose pagerank or to point to content you don't want visitors to see, your hopes for top ranking could be squashed like a bug.

Still, if you want to explore the idea of hidden links further, here’s an article Hidden Links Explained that gets into the ins and out of the technique.

Okay, so much for our visit to the dark side to explore some of the more common internet marketing and seo dirty tricks.

Phew feel like you need to shower? I know I do. Still I hope this was an eye opening heads up.

Now if you picked up on the trend, to pull off dirty tricks like these the idea is to try to imitate a polar bear in a snow storm.

Just remember stealth doesn’t always mean wealth.

Still, all’s fair and love and internet marketing seo. And no one has a corner on ideas of how to best optimize a web page. Dirty tricks or not.

Besides you’ll find there is no absolute right or wrong here…no black and white…just various shades of gray.

I say that because what is labeled as search engine spam by one search engine might be perfectly acceptable to another. Or the same internet marketing seo tactics that work great today might get you banned tomorrow. All you can do is keep your ear to the ground, try to play fair, and hope for the best.

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