A-List Web Sites Use Hidden Text to Fool Google, Yahoo! and MSN

Fortune 500 companies join growing ranks of businesses attempting to manipulate search engine rankings.

Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) December 19, 2005 – Search Engine Optimization Specialist, Robert G. Medford, today released findings indicating that Web sites owned by several well-known Fortune 500 companies make use of "search engine spamming" techniques to enhance their rankings in search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN. Screen shots and analysis are available at www.searchengineoptimizationsecrets.com.

Deceptive web authoring practices have long been associated with lesser firms that attempt to gain advantage over competitors by employing keyword phrases that are invisible to site visitors, but are read by search engine robots. The data collected by the robots is used in the calculation of search engine results.

“Let me begin by saying that this type of activity is not illegal—although some may consider it unethical. It does however, violate the guidelines set forth by the major search engines and subjects these sites to possible penalties including exclusion from Google, Yahoo! and MSN,” said Mr. Medford, a six-year veteran of the search marketing industry.

“It is entirely possible that the companies named are completely unaware of the questionable practices, as most of the Web sites analyzed are reportedly clients of a single award-winning search marketing agency,” Medford added.

As top search engine rankings can be worth millions of dollars in revenue, many businesses employ search marketing firms to gain advantage over their competition, while search engines devote significant resources to filtering out sites utilizing techniques that violate their guidelines.

“Not all search marketing firms employ “black hat” tactics,” said Medford. “There are highly effective optimization methods that fall within the guidelines provided by the major search engines.”

Additional information including URLs, screen shots and analysis is currently available at www.searchengineoptimizationsecrets.com.

About Robert G. Medford

Robert has been a student of search engine optimization techniques since 1999. In addition to his duties as a full-time webmaster, he provides search marketing consulting services to growing list of firms throughout the U.S. Mr. Medford has recently begun work on a free search engine optimization tutorial that will be available at www.searchengineoptimizationsecrets.com sometime during the spring of 2006.

Contact:

Robert G. Medford

848 North Rainbow Boulevard, #1514

Las Vegas, Nevada 89107 USA

702-966-0745

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