Sneaky SEO Squatting

Recently I came across a shady action that was taken to help increase in search results. The nature of the action is somewhat hard to understand, but let me try to explain how SEO squatting occurs. Typically the code and type that is put on the back of a website shows to the visitors on the front of the website. However, some code is designed to only be read by robots such as screen readers and spiders that crawl the web and index it (Google, Bing, etc.).

The way some unethical folks “squat” on others search results is by hiding the name of the competitors business inside the robot only code in their website. This code does not display to the visitor, but will be crawled by search engines and subsequently displayed to people who search for the competitor on Google, Bing or other search engines.

An unethical decision such as this has fiscal implications in that the business who is cheating will gain some of the traffic off of the competitor’s marketing efforts. This is unfortunately an action that can create unwanted legal ramifications and unnecessary attention to the cheaters website in a negative light.

It is best to “keep one’s nose clean” when it comes to SEO and web design. Don’t take short cuts, and don’t cheat. Ethics are important in this industry because our clients rely on us so much to make the right decisions with their business presence.

Examples of places that SEO squatting can occur:

<title></title> – Inside the end of title tags
alt=”” – Inside alt tags on images
title=”” – Inside title tags on images
<meta name=”keywords” content=”” – Inside the meta keyword content area

Feel that you have been the victim of SEO squatting?

Call SkyPoint for a thorough analysis 406.208.8733

Written by: Jophiel Silvestrone

Jophiel Silvestrone has written 326 posts in the Tech Blog.

Jophiel grew up on a ranch in Paradise Valley, Montana near Chico Hot Springs. Working on the ranch instilled work ethic and self motivation. Filled with this drive, Jophiel started mowing the local school's yards twice a month throughout the summers, at the age of 12. He moved to Billings in 2004, where he has been deeply involved in the local business community ever since. A serial entrepreneur, Jophiel has ran multiple businesses in our local community. The first business, a janitorial and carpet cleaning company, founded in 2005, has employed over 50 locals. Moving on to the media industry, Jophiel and several partners founded Green Directory Montana in the spring of 2007. Green Directory's sustainability ranking software awarded points based on sustainable or "green" actions. These points counted towards a business's total "Green Score," which in turn ranked them against other businesses in their category and throughout the entire site. It also featured a limited edition print version distributed annually. A business acquisition allowed Jophiel to focus on new projects, and a few close business colleagues and Jophiel started Rocky Mountain Mr. & Ms. Magazine, a lifestyle publication for men and women in the Magic City. After a year and a half at the helm of RM3 Magazine, the business was purchased. He now runs a web development company SkyPoint Studios and fathers his son Jaoquin, who plays football, basketball, soccer, and is learning snowboarding from his dad. Recently, has expanded to locations in Havasu, Arizona & Vegas. SkyPoint Studios is a market leader in both Billings & Havasu and Jophiel is working on building that same level of market dominance in Vegas. Specialties: Extensive experience in online and offline business. Especially savvy at WordPress, and operate several sites, one example is the blog: skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com/tech-blog. Check out skypointwebdesignbillingsmontana.com for the latest projects from SkyPoint Studios.