 |
|
NONE: Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Why it is a *HUGE* mistake to try and trick search engines...
Re: ONLINE-ADS>> Why it is a *HUGE* mistake to try and trick search engines...
Peter Hartley (hartley_at_shop.hartley.on.ca)
Mon, 21 Oct 1996 08:13:12 -0400
At 08:34 PM 20-10-96 -0400, Eric Ward wrote:
>
>
>Now this is the one topic that will get me to de-lurk anytime...
>
>Here is my perspective on search-engine results tweaking,
>from an article finished a couple weeks ago.
>
>-Eric Ward
>The WardGroup / NetPOST & NetWIRE /
>Internet Press & Publicity -- http://www.netpost.com
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------
> Tuning HTML for search engines...Fair or Foul???
>------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The various search engines each use their own collection of
>algorithms for indexing pages. Each can tweak these algorithms
>anytime they want. Each can have completely different results
>for the same exact search term. While some webmasters try to make
>html changes to their pages to improve where they come up, the truth
>is it is impossible to create a long-term method for improving your
>position with each and every one of them. Any company or service
>that tells you different is full of baloney. The concept is
>something I call html "tuning", and the flaws in the strategy can
>be summed up by discussing a couple key concepts.
>
> First, any "tuning" of a Web page to improve its position in a
>search result is attempting to affect the accuracy of that engine in
>their own favor. In the long run, as more people do this, the
>result is innacurate results for everyone, and an innefective search
>tool. Any "tuning" made to a site should conform to the
>instructions given for such action by each individual search engine,
>should they provide them. Keyword loading, title packing,
>meta-stacking, and other techniques are NOT ethical. They hurt
>everyone, especially the end-users of the search engines.
>
> Second, you must also realize that anything you do to your page
>that DOES result in some kind of artificial ranking is not exactly a
>secret. The html on your page is what determines the ranking, and
>this same html is viewable to anyone who wants to see it. Want to
>come up first? Just see who comes up first on the term you want,
>and then look at the source code for that site. The answer you
>seek is right dad-gum in front of you! And this is why this
>technique will never work in the long haul. Anything you do that
>gets you ranked high will last only as long as it takes for someone
>to view your source.
>
> So, unless all you want to do with your time all day is look at
>your competitors html and tweak your own, and then resubmit your
>site to each and every true engine, please forget it. Go to each
>search engine's homepage, and follow the directions. And don't
>forget that some search engines actually penalize cheaters by
>looking for certain abuses and dis-including them completely.
>Be a friend to the Internet, don't screw with the search engines
>results.
>
>(c) 1996 Eric R. Ward The WardGroup / NetPOST & NetWIRE
>
And IMHO this is about as wrong and a bad a piece of advice as I have seen
in the last 20 years. If your job is to get a page seen - then it is your
job to that, by fair means or foul. To do less is to abdicate your
responsibility, be it a responsibility to your client or to your own
business. And, for the record, examining your competitors' pages doesn't
necessarily help if they change them as soon as they have been indexed by
the engine for which they were were designed.
And when the various engines change their rules - your job is work out what
the new rules are, and then to do whatever it takes to get back on the top
of the first page. THIS IS CALLED WORKING FOR YOUR LIVING!
Peter Hartley
for "Hartley's" > http://www.hartley.on.ca
Contributing to the 'net with...
Hot Bots > http://www.hartley.on.ca/ha02000.html
2SPAM or not2SPAM > http://www.hartley.on.ca/ha00008.html
EZBiz home biz > http://www.hartley.on.ca/ha01001.html
HOW TO JOIN THE ONLINE ADVERTISING DISCUSSION LIST
|
With an archive of more than 14,000 postings, since 1996 the
Online Advertising Discussion List has been the Internet's leading forum focused on professional discussion
of online advertising and online media buying and selling strategies, results, studies, tools, and media
coverage. If you wish to join the discussion list, please use this link to sign up on the home page of the Online Advertising Discussion List. |
|
|
Online Advertising Industry Leaders:
Clicksor
List and Found
AdJungle
The Laredo Group
Add your company...
|
