Does this count as a 'hidden link'?

Using javascript to disguise the destination of your link

[soccer_star]

A site I've seen has an innocent looking link at the bottom of the page as so: widgets

But it is in fact 7 different links - each of the 7 letters of widgets is a seperate link to a different site (ie click 'w' you go to site a, click 'i' you go to site b etc) and he's used javascript so when you mouseover any of the letters you get 'http://widgets.com' in the status bar.

So at first glance, and even when you mouseover the link, it appears to be a normal link to widgets.com.

I assume the reason he's done this is because the page has decent PR, there are few outbound links on the page and the 7 'adult' sites he's linking to are getting a nice PR boost.

He has obviously disguised the links cos it's in a DMOZ non-adult category and he doesn't want the DMOZ editors to ditch him for linking to adult sites (assuming they would do such a thing, I have no idea).

So it's not really hidden as the links are there on the page - no same colour background or transparent gifs or anything, but it seems unethical.

Is he doing anything wrong, either according to Google's or DMOZ's terms? If so, will he get away with it or will googlebot catch him? Or should I report him?

[DaveN]

why would you report him his he serving up different content on his site to what he is selling. let google do the work I try to concentrate on getting my site right not on other peoples, time is way to precision to go around looking at other peoples sites and reporting them.

How often do you drive down the motorway and collect the registration plates of people speeding, they will get to further down the motorway than you in a less time because they are cheating do you report them or just continue with your journey

Daven

[DLadybug]

It's actually pretty clever. :)

But it's going to bite him on the butt down the road.. He's definately backstabbing his own credibility among his users. That won't take him too far, so don't worry about it.

~Dian

[MHes]

"How often do you drive down the motorway and collect the registration plates of people speeding, they will get to further down the motorway than you in a less time because they are cheating do you report them or just continue with your journey "

Report them.

Sometimes, when you are having a bad day like I am, it makes you feel better ;)

[div01]

The 'mouseover trick' is often used by some affiliate programs (CJ comes to mind). I can't think of it being illegal from Google's perspective, but if they have a DMOZ listing in a non-adult category, you might have a case for violating their TOS.

[jomaxx]

If what you're saying is that he has porn links disguised as a safe link, that's extremely deceptive and I would report him to Google and DMOZ in a heartbeat.

[soccer_star]

Thanks for your responses everyone, many interesting points.

Do any DMOZ experts out there know whether this actually does violate their terms and is reason enough for the site to be deleted from DMOZ? After all, the site itself does not contain adult content, it merely links to it.