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"Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?"
but hey, SEO is not black and white. so where is the grey line.
the biggest fear I have is that my competition will pick up on the fact and start doing the same. would be a shame!
so what is the general consent? use it while it is still allowed or stay away from such "cheeky" tactics?
Live it up while you can boys :o)
dave
For your site, I would not consider it at all. Like I said earlier, for a good site, I would never do it.
See the only thing is, some webmasters live in a box (their own site) and never consider the different types of optimisation work that goes into different portfolios that others have.
I manage a substantial portfolio, losing a few domains here and there is hardly a bad thing. But for you, losing your rankings for your optimised traffic domain and/or your main site would be devastating.
This is what I was saying earlier "in the name of research", I can afford to do these types of "tricks" to test traffic / click thrus etc.
You optimise for 1 topic, you probably know all there is to know about your topic, how the traffic behaves on SERPs, what kind of interface will make your traffic click, the source of all your traffic, the education / user level of your target audience, and so on ..
I optimise for 200 topics. Traffic behaves differently on each topic. Its very difficult to manage and keep track of everything for each niche, so sometimes when we find a "trick" like this one, we implement a blanket strategy across a bunch of sites to "test the water" with different market segments.
Sure it works for some traffic, entertainment traffic is up, adult traffic is up, business traffic is down. Why? Maybe the education of this segment is too good to be fooled by a star, so from now on, none of those sites will use that method. Its simple.
All I am saying is, dont rip it up someone and say that a method is no good just because you wouldnt use it. Hey there are things on your site that I wouldnt do, it may even be in the "10 things NOT to do - SEO handbook" .. but hey .. im not in here picking on you for doing it am I?
Monkeesage,
No luck with Opera 7.11/WinXP either, so it has got to be something else.
I think it's safe to conclude that this trick will not work for over 99% of the population. I agree that it dilutes the Title tag and is best left to a sand box site or personal page.
Ash
I think it's safe to conclude that this trick will not work for over 99% of the population. I agree that it dilutes the Title tag and is best left to a sand box site or personal page.
Hence my reasons for speaking against it. I would hate to think that some poor sod comes along, reads only the upside (if there is any), decides to use it, then gets dropped from Google.
As I have said, if you really want more non-targeted traffic, use the word "Free"! Will work better than a spammy lookig star.
Dave
If you are say 3rd for a keyterm that is searched for 30 times a month but are getting $50 per click this "trick" actually works very well, the traffic is no less diluted or useless..
they still read my title (if they do that) and description so it just makes my site STAND OUT more...
If you are say 3rd for a keyterm...
I'd rather shoot for #1 :o)
Dave
they still read my title (if they do that) and description so it just makes my site STAND OUT more...
Nobody disagrees about the attraction value of these symbols. Even if someone clicks on such a hit, you won't know if they saw a star or a box.
In my limited test, I cannot tell if the symbol made any difference to the positioning (it was and still is #1). It is best tested in a very competitive industry against a similar page on the same level of the site where both pages show for the same term in close proximity.
Well, I tried viewing this with IE, Mozilla-Firebird, Opera and Konquerer and saw "nothing but block." Tried all different encoding also, so I don't think it would work well for me.
In order to see it you have to have the advanced webfonts pack installed - at least with "winders".
Anyhow, it is not an "exploit" - it is more like a fad.
[edited by: rfgdxm1 at 12:51 am (utc) on Sep. 4, 2003]
Also, leading bullet seems to be filtered.
SN
This is true for my main SERP. However, for other (less popular SERPs) the stars are still showing.
Likewise, I have seen another site for a very popular search term still with a star displayed in it's title.
If Google are filtering these symbols out, it seems they are being very selective - even going so far as to filter them out for specific SERPS...
SN
Edit: Just seen that the search result for "blue widgets" is showing " - 18k - Cached - " next to the domain in the results, whereas "special blue widgets" is showing " - 18k - 3 Sep 2003 - Cached - "
Clicking on each intance of "Cached" still results in displaying the version of the page complete with the 5 stars.
