MSN Lets One Slip By - What Not To Do!

[VegasMack]

When checking MSN today for the term “las vegas real estate” I discovered that both #1 and #2 sites had identical content.

The links below are intentionally broken (space between "." and "com").

#1 - www.search-las-vegas-real-estate. com
#2 - www.realestate-vegas. com

And believe it or not he is #1 for the term “real estate” right now.

On closer examination, I discovered that the majority of the back links were to pages that made no mention of the site. When I looked at the source code for the alleged back link, I found a layered (hidden) reference to the sites complete with anchor text. This is repeated on thousands of back links.

Going a bit further I started checking the pages indexed from the site. There are numerous cloaked and redirected pages.

While I am sure that MSN will catch this guy, I mention this as an example of what not to do to our REALTORS® out there who are new to SEO. While you may be able to get high rankings in the short term, techniques like this will ultimately get your site banned from the major SE.

Unscrupulous SEO people will charge a premium to do things like this, and once your site is banned they just find another REALTOR to take your place.

There are plenty of good ethical SEO professionals out there (and in this forum) if you need professional help. :)

There are NO magic fixes. We all are smart enough to avoid get rich quick schemes, but forget to use our common sense when it comes to the Internet. Develop a website with good content, keep it fresh and build good relevant back links and your hard work will pay off.

This web designer’s work looks very familiar. If it is, (don’t know for sure) he is responsible for many REALTOR® sites being banned in Google and Yahoo!

Build your sites like your business…. for the long haul. ;)

~VegasMack

[Real Estate Forum]

I completely agree!

I also believe that msn is going to find a way to eliminate search results like those. This is 2005 --- not 1996.

You either help the search engines or you will hurt yourself!

[Las Vegas Homes]

I am curious to see how MSN handles these real estate sites mentioned. This will give us all an idea as to whether they are going to take blackhat seo very serious or not. I find it amazing that these sites also show up for even the phrase real estate. I know who the seo and web designer is and this person has already been ban from yahoo and google, so MSN should take them down as well. Its only a matter of time and I believe it will be in a very short time.

[HHI Golf Guy]

It's going to be tough for SE's to catch this until they can interpret CSS. Not only that, but they need to be able to identify which elements the styles are being applied to.

When I checked a few links in that site I saw the techniques you described. They were hiding the links off the visible page and using Z-index. Very scummy indeed!

[Las Vegas Homes]

We all must take a pro active stance against this kind of seo. In the long run it hurts us all and not to mention the consumers. I would say report these sites as I have. I HATE BLACKHAT SEO.

[Apply]

Yep, MSN is suffering this at the moment, I am still finding a fair amount of spam. No doubt they will figure it out and clean up their index, Google doesnt really have the same problem and Yahoo has blog spam problems. With MSNs investments and efforts I think they will fix it soon.

[VegasMack]

Let’s face it, when Bill Gates sets his mind to something, it usually happens. I just envision banks of techs and programmers hovering over Mr. Gates new pride and joy.

Problems are expected on a new system, and like Apply, I feel they will be corrected.

What will be interesting is how fast MSN Search is able to react once a problem is discovered. ;)

~VegasMack

[Jade456]

What is strange is that a couple of months ago, MSN didn't have those problems. :confused: They need to go back to their old filter (I know someone would be very happy if they did). Yahoo is even worse.

[Las Vegas Homes]

Well I think if you look close at those sites you will know who it is, that someone has already been ban from not only google but also yahoo, so we know it is only a matter of time. It is sad however that these real estate agents that hire this person get screwed.

[Real Estate Forum]

We all must take a pro active stance against this kind of seo. In the long run it hurts us all and not to mention the consumers. I would say report these sites as I have. I HATE BLACKHAT SEO.
I agree, just like Google was asking search engine marketers for their cooperation at the Google Dance 2004 (http://www.google.com/googledance2004/), MSN's will benefit from the assistance of ethical search engine guys as well.
The only difference is that msn may not know it yet :D

[VegasMack]

What is strange is that a couple of months ago, MSN didn't have those problems. :confused: They need to go back to their old filter (I know someone would be very happy if they did). Yahoo is even worse.MSN will work out the bugs.

PS - I love Yahoo! :D

~VegasMack

[ffang2]

MSN will work out the bugs.

PS - I love Yahoo! :D

~VegasMack

LOL, of course you love yahoo! Have you guys seen all his pages listed in yahoo! I bow to the yahoo master! :)

[VegasMack]

It’s a mutual love. ;)

~VegasMack

[Jade456]

Lol. Anyone here get any traffic from their directory listing on Yahoo?

[sward]

I can't stress enough about these "tricks" that some webmasters do. Doing this for over 5 years now I can tell you that the tricks will hurt you. Good content , good optimization, and QUALITY links is what will help you succeed in the long run. Like anything worth having it takes time. :D

[VegasMack]

I can't stress enough about these "tricks" that some webmasters do. Doing this for over 5 years now I can tell you that the tricks will hurt you. Good content , good optimization, and QUALITY links is what will help you succeed in the long run. Like anything worth having it takes time. :DYou are absolutely right on Sward.

Tricks may bring fast results, but can also get you banned from the SEs just as fast.

I keep preaching; build your site like your business… for the long haul. ;)

~VegasMack

[sward]

Yeah, What I can suggest for the newbie's but not for long term is after researching your keywords and I mean really study them. Then while you wait to get on the serps Pay per click can work in getting you exposure. My only warning is you need to learn the ropes. It can be very time consuming but valuable if used right. yes it will take a chunk of your advertising budget but it will get you seen while you wait. really thinking out your sites first will pay off long term!
sward :)