ETI Systems - A real shocker!

[Kal]

Ok Guys - what do you make of this one? www. etisystems.com [deliberately broken URL]

They are ranking very well for a wide range of terms relating to their site, but have a look at their source code and you'll see my concerns:

1) What are these "classification" and "summary" tags and are these old W3 tags that no-one uses anymore? Do the engines take these into account and do they add any extra relevancy at all? (I think not)

2) What's with the use of "stealth" within the style tag? What is that doing exactly?

3) What are all these CLASS="STEALTH" references within the NoFrames tag? Is this some kind of cloaking?

4) What are the INPUT TYPE="hidden" references, also in the NoFrames tag? Is this just hidden text?

5) What are the FONT CLASS="STEALTH" references, also in the NoFrames tag?

6) Note the hideous use of spammy comment tags, but one says "search features optimized by www .direct-hits.net". Anyone heard of this Canadian mob?

What a pack of wankers... Think we should report them?

[Kal]

You should see their own site. Go to the site mentioned at 6) above (URL broken intentionally to avoid link detection) and have a look at THEIR source code. Unbelievable! Can we do something about this? :mad:

[french dread]

Greetings,

"What's with the use of "stealth" within the style tag? What is that doing exactly? "

it is a css to make letters appear the same color than the background. it seems not be detected by SEs

"What are the FONT CLASS="STEALTH" references, also in the NoFrames tag? "

it apply the css above to the text so it is invisible.

[Kal]

Wow, all that effort to spam. Do you think I should let their client know that their site uses known spamdexing techniques? Do you think the engines will do anything about this if I report it?

[markymark]

Yeah, kill 'em dead. Same procedure as always. Write a nice simple email to Google or whoever detailing the terms and ranks these sites are listed under and pointing out that they are breaching the rules as laid down by that search engine. Give examples, then back off and let the SE decide.

[Direct Hits]

Please feel free to tell Google and any other search engines you want about our methods. Representatives from all of the major search engines have said time and time again at internet and search engine conventions that they are not in principle opposed to techniques aimed at boosting a site's ranking, so long as they are relevant and not misleading. The reason they began banning such obvious dupes as tiny/invisible text is because porn sites were loading their pages with every imaginable word and people searching for "mickey mouse" were ending up in all the wrong places. The search terms we use are always relevant to the sites in question.

Search engines look for certain things on a site. Our techniques simply address all of them. There is nothing wrong with that.

Adios.

:p

Chris Ward
Chief Developer, Direct Hits
http://www.direct-hits.net/

[ihelpyou]

Welcome to the forums Chris!

I disagree with you completely. When and where did any search engine say that spamming is okay?

We have many in here who go to the SES conferences and will be going next week as well.

I do think Alan and I for a couple of members do no what is spamming and what is not and what the engines say about it on their sites.

Read the pages about what is.

Also, interesting you came out and said it was your site in this thread as kal deleted the url immediately after the post back in November. You would not have had to say anything. :)

And no, your relevancy theory is way off.

Welcome again!

You should go to Boston and meet us next week!

Also, I believe in transparency to your visitors and clients. You have this on your page:
Powerful background promotional techniques that we've privately developed. These are a big part of what separates our service from countless others that offer only basic meta tag/keyword generation and search engine submission. Our methods are effective, but are performed to the highest standards of professionalism and ethics and will not reflect poorly upon you or your website. We do not engage in index flooding or any other "spam" tactics.
What exactly are you doing? Don't you think your clients should know what it is that could possibly get them penalized or banned? Do you give your clients full disclosure about your techniques?

This is the biggest problem in our industry. Some SEO's out there do not disclose how they could be leading their clients to a penalty or ban.

[ihelpyou]

oops. I see that your name was in the post.

I bet this thread came up on a search somewhere. :)

[ihelpyou]

As you can see Chris, I 'out' every spammer I see. Here is your code on your front page:
<DIV ID="STEALTH" STYLE="POSITION : ABSOLUTE; TOP: -500PX">

<FONT CLASS="STEALTH" FACE="tahoma, arial, helvetica, sans-serif"><B>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">website promotion</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">web site promotion</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engine submission services</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engine submissions</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engine placement</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engine promotion</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engine optimizations</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engine rankings</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">increase hits</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">improve rankings</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">website optimizations</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">improve search results</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">website submissions</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">website hits</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engine hits</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">website traffic</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">get more hits</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">website rankings</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">increase traffic</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engine traffic</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engines</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">website optimisations</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">search engine news headlines</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">directhits001211</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">directhits010109</A>
<A HREF="http://www.direct-hits.net/" CLASS="STEALTH">directhits010407</A>

<INPUT TYPE="hidden" VALUE="
website promotion
web site promotion
search engine submission services
search engine submissions
search engine placement
search engine promotion
search engine optimizations
search engine rankings
increase hits
improve rankings
website optimizations
improve search results
website submissions
website hits
search engine hits
website traffic
get more hits
website rankings
increase traffic
search engine traffic
search engines
website optimisations
search engine news headlines
">
<!--
website promotion
web site promotion
search engine submission services
search engine submissions
search engine placement
search engine promotion
search engine optimizations
search engine rankings
increase hits
improve rankings
website optimizations
improve search results
website submissions
website hits
search engine hits
website traffic
get more hits
website rankings
increase traffic
search engine traffic
search engines
website optimisations
search engine news headlines
-->
That is some of the most obvious, blatant spam I have seen in quite awhile.

The least you should do is make it not so obvious. :) To put hidden text in a style tag that is positioned off the page is very obvious that the browser does not see it but the spider does. Not good, my friend.

Noted also is the fact your site does not come up on any searches for the phrases you are targeting in Google. You also have a PR of one in Google which tells me you have been penalized already. Right?

You should really read up in here how to achieve good ranks Chris. We can help you with that.

You just may have been led down the wrong road by someone which happens all the time. It happened to me when I started out as well.

It's a shame as your site is full of good content and you would not have any problems with doing things the right way. Stick around and help us answer questions with all your good knowledge. You may even switch over to our side of the fence, which is the very best side to be on. :)

You have a very good, quality site Chris with good content. No reason you should have to resort to these tactics. Stick around, okay?

[JuniorHarris]

Welcome Chris!~:hi:

I don't see what all the fuss is Gus!~ :eyes:

The page barely has any PageRank. Google only has the home page in the index, apparently a result of the DMOZ listing. I can't see the page being any real competition in the SERPS, especially without any backward links.

Other then the aforementioned faux paus, the site could really have some potential. The design [other then the "extra" text] is pretty clean, and the layout is not too bad either. With a little house cleaning and a decent reciprocal link campaign it might do fairly well [all above board].

[ihelpyou]

Yep. That is what I mean. Just get rid of the hidden text, etc, and the site has great potential!

[JuniorHarris]

Yes, I agree...may take a little work, but I see the potential!~

[lots0cash]

It appears the client’s site has been cleaned up and is doing well in serp. I also no longer see a reference to the SEO firm in question on the clients site. Perhaps the client changed SEO firms?

[ihelpyou]

Could be as I know I am went after such things in the past and had to do house-cleaning. :)

[highman]

lol..... that is complete pants!

"expert website promotion" ..... ROFL...

well spotted all, a good example of how not to do it!

[highman]

lots0cash, the client site is still showing code that will make ya cringe :rolleyes:

Someone should point them to this thread.....

[lots0cash]

Highman - I guess I should have said "somewhat cleaned up" I dident see any hidden text or any of the other things Kal mentioned in November.

[Alan Perkins]

Hi Chris

I too would like you to stick around. Not so we can beat up on you (like we are doing in this thread, because you deserve it at present) but so you can learn a thing or two from us, and maybe vice versa. :)

Originally posted by Direct Hits
Please feel free to tell Google and any other search engines you want about our methods.Not my style. I prefer to tell you. You of course may not want to listen. :) If you REALLY want me to report you, ask again. :p

Originally posted by Direct Hits
Representatives from all of the major search engines have said time and time again at internet and search engine conventions that they are not in principle opposed to techniques aimed at boosting a site's ranking, so long as they are relevant and not misleading. The reason they began banning such obvious dupes as tiny/invisible text is because porn sites were loading their pages with every imaginable word and people searching for "mickey mouse" were ending up in all the wrong places. The search terms we use are always relevant to the sites in question.Whether or not what you are doing is relevant to a particular searcher is subjective, according to each searcher. Whether or not it is spam is objective. It is spam - fact.

Originally posted by Direct Hits
Search engines look for certain things on a site. Our techniques simply address all of them. There is nothing wrong with that.Nothing wrong apart from obtaining visitors by deception, stealing a search engine's traffic under false pretences, damaging the brand of you and your clients and using tactics that may lead to temporary or permanent exclusion from a search engine's index.

I don't mean to sound patronising Chris, but how else can I put this: you really can learn something here. Please stick around, debate this if you like, and don't take it too much to heart. As Doug says, most of us here spammed before we realised what it was all about. We do now. :cheers:

[bigDugan]

If it looks like spam and smells like spam-- I dont need to step in it, to find out for sure!
8)

[Kal]

So Chris, what DO you have to say in response to all this?

[MazY]

Originally posted by Kal
So Chris, what DO you have to say in response to all this?

Looks to me like he is saying the right thing - nothing at all. I don't think anyone has to justify their actions to any one of us mere mortals.