One in Five Web Sites Found Attempting 'Unethical' Search Engine Promotion

After expanding availability of its Web site optimisation and search engine promotion services beyond its own customer base for the first time, Zen Web Solutions finds 1 in 5 of new clients needing repairs to Web sites previously promoted using unethical methods - mostly without their knowledge.

(PRWEB) August 23, 2004 -- Web sites promoted by dubious methods or using techniques proscribed by Google and other major search engines are unlikely to be as common as the one in five seen by Zen Web Solutions since the design and marketing division of Zen Internet re-launched its optimisation and promotion services for a wider audience two months ago.

Most businesses looking around for expert help to improve their Web site's ranking in search engine results are either not listed at all, or they have so many sites ahead of them that they can't be found. It's among these 'missing in action' and poorly performing Web sites that the highest proportion of unethical activity can be uncovered - and will already have been spotted by the search engines.

"We used to be all over Google", said one newly arrived Zen Web Solutions customer, "now you can't find us at all". Commented-out lists of key words had been added to the coding of the company's site pages and an over-zealous promoter had created near-duplicate pages under different domain names in an effort to boost traffic.

Zen Web Solutions discovered another promoter using his client's sites to boost all the other sites he'd worked on by uploading an extra page that simply listed them, along with their keywords and hyperlinked addresses.

Rather than issuing a detailed list of transgressions that Web sites can be penalised for, Google and the other major search engines tell promoters and optimisers that they welcome anything that helps them deliver the most relevant information in response to user queries, but frown on techniques that don't represent site content fairly and honestly.

It's an easy distinction to make, according to Zen Web Solutions optimisers. "Concentrate on your intended audience and providing the best Web site for them, rather than the search engines" say the Zen team, "that gives us the best possible base to work on if we're going to get you listed at the top of search results when you have a hundred competitors chasing Number One positions".

http://www.zenwebsolutions.com/seo

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