Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Search Optimization and Its Dirty Little Secrets - NYTimes.com

Comprehensive overview of how JC Penney gamed Google's search engine over the holiday season. If you're looking for a reasonably succinct explanation of how "black hat", or under-the-table search engine optimization works, this is a good place to start.

In JC Penney's case, they weren't caught until the New York TImes pointed it out, and they weren't penalized as harshly as others who game Google; they were just demoted in ranking to where they should actually be based on their quality. It's an interesting story, and it shows that even big companies who try to game Google can only be successful at it for so long. Full article here.

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