Chapter 6: Spam Issues: When Search Engines Get Fooled
In This Chapter
Finding out about the different types of search engine spam
Understanding the consequences of using spam
Being wary of guaranteed results and other false promises
In this chapter, you find out about spam techniques that some web sites use to fool or trick the search engines into delivering a higher listing on the results page. We go over some of the more popular and dangerous methods that have been used, and then we delve into the guidelines search engines use to define what they consider spam, as well as our search engine optimization (SEO) code of ethics.
Understanding What Spam Is
When you normally think of spam, the first thing that comes to mind is either the canned meat product or the junk e-mail that’s clogging up your inbox. (Or the Monty Python skit . . . “Spam, spam, spam, spam” . . . ahem.) When we here in SEO-land talk about spam, however, we mean something a little different than meat by-products, unwanted e-mails, or British comedy troupes. Search engine spam (also sometimes known as spamdexing) is any tactic or web page that is used to deceive the search engine into a false understanding of what ...
