Google Bombing or Legitimate SEO?

Written by Mike Banks Valentine


Today I visitedrepparttar WebProWorld forums and stumbled across a topic "New Google Bombing Technique" and was startled to see thatrepparttar 127891 topic had been viewed over 22,000 times! It is by farrepparttar 127892 most active ofrepparttar 127893 forums inrepparttar 127894 "Search Engine Insider Reports" section.

This article is simply my response to that discussion thread and I hope it helps cool offrepparttar 127895 heat being generated there. Google Bombing Discussion

The general gist ofrepparttar 127896 conversation suggests that appending a question mark ? or a pound sign # followed by a keyword phrase, torepparttar 127897 end of an embedded link in a web site could lead to ranking a site atrepparttar 127898 top for that search phrase. An example is given of top rank for a particular phrase, then immediately forum members post their own URL's inrepparttar 127899 discussion replies, usingrepparttar 127900 technique to link back to their own sites with their own targeted search terms in an attempt to gain advantage withrepparttar 127901 technique, many times with odd or obscure terms. This "new" so-called "#Google-Bombing" technique is simply a routine SEO strategy that has been used for years by pros. When we optimize a site for a client, we include keywords wherever possible withinrepparttar 127902 visible page text. The top priority is ALWAYS page text and title tags. From there on, ALL uses of additional techniques are only incremental in value and don't dramatically affect ranking for targeted keyword phrases.

I demonstraterepparttar 127903 ease of ranking for obscure terms on a page where I discussrepparttar 127904 foolishness of SEO guarantees by includingrepparttar 127905 phrase, "screeching camels" one time onrepparttar 127906 page in visible text. Screeching Camels There are no keyword or description metatags on that page, yet it ranks number one at Google when you search for "Screeching Camels". That is not Google bombing. A one-time use of a keyword phrase on a page got this number one ranking for that phrase simply because it is an absurdly rare phrase. Use of irrelevant and misleading keyword phrase stuffing in keyword metatags, in comment tags <.!-- keyword stuffing --> (leading period used in examples to allow display without embedding links in HTML email) and in ridiculous "invisible text" (using textrepparttar 127907 same color asrepparttar 127908 background) got abusive and sorepparttar 127909 search engines began to penalize those who did those things. They will always attempt to banrepparttar 127910 obsessive cheaters and keyword stuffing liars.

The ? and # technique has always been used legitimately for ?tracking-referrers, calling ?search-terms and #jump-links to take you to a named anchor within a page. Now obsessive webmasters are attempting to userepparttar 127911 technique to increase their own search engine rankings. Sometimes when I link OUT to a site, I append ?WebSite101 torepparttar 127912 tail end ofrepparttar 127913 URL simply to let them know whererepparttar 127914 visitor came from (referrer) when they view their logs or use a traffic analysis or tracking service.

Creative Ways to Gain Links

Written by Jason Rickard


Creative Methods for "One Way" Links

Everyone knowsrepparttar importance of getting other sites to link to you andrepparttar 127890 most common way is for a reciprical link. That isrepparttar 127891 kind of link that Click Sentrys reciprical tools address. These are great links and should always be sought after. However, there has been much discussion about Google giving less weight to a link that is recip. One ofrepparttar 127892 ways to combat this is "triangle" linking but this can be very time consuming and hard to explain to new website owners. That brings us to another method:

One Way Linking

When most people think about one way linking their mind immediately turns to directories. These are a great source (and are seemingly endless) of one way links but there are even more creative ways to get them. I am going to break it into two very easy categories - Press Releases and Article Submissions

Press Releases - New websites seem to believe that people who need their service or product will just find them because of that need. Anyone who has started a site just to sit back and letrepparttar 127893 orders or visitors roll in has been quickly reminded that despite beingrepparttar 127894 "web", people still need to know you are there. There are plenty of great sites that allow you to "announce" your arrival. Even if you are an established site you are still able to write a press release to announce any new products or tools you may have. Somehow inrepparttar 127895 move from newspapers to internet many have lostrepparttar 127896 fine art of writing an engaging (and self serving of course) press release. I will write another article sometime about that lost art with step by step instructions. Inrepparttar 127897 meantime, just read some ofrepparttar 127898 other Press Releases and adapt your own. These press releases are spidered by google so it is a great way to not only get a link but to also drive traffic to your site.

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