Getting ranked by including Google search links in html code

Google search url on page

[Taiwan_Tim]

My website is ranked at the bottom of page 1 of the Google search results for an important keyword phrase. The number two link on page 1 is to a well-known company (Big Company) that has nothing to do with this particular keyword phrase. I checked the page they got ranked for, and found the following code in two places on the page:

<img alt="" width="0" height="0" border="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" src="http://big.company.com/trans_pixel.asp?source=www&amp;TYPE=PV&amp;p=whdc&amp;URI=%2fwhdc%2fdefault.mspx&amp;GUID=1F4FC18C-F71E-47FB-8FC9-612F8EE59C61&amp;r=http%3a%2f%2fwww.google.com%2fsearch%3fhl%3den%26q%3dkeyword%2bphrase&amp;lc=en-us">

I've replaced the real names to protect the guilty, but if you examine the code, you can find

http%3a%2f%2fwww.google.com%2fsearch%3fhl%3den%26q%3dkeyword%2bphrase

which translates into

[google.com...]

This is the Google url you will probably see when searching on the phrase "keyword phrase" (but without the quotes).

Maybe Big Company made a mistake, but why on God's green Earth would anyone make this kind of mistake?

[texasville]

This is actually a very interesting thing. If you notice it points to a transparent gif. I have seen this before on a site that didn't want anyone seeing their outgoing links to other sites.
Very curious that they are using the google search string. Is there any reason at all that they would want to appear for that keyword?

[robjones2]

It could be the web-designer (who has multiple clients) is using Big Company's site to promote one of his other sites....

[Key_Master]

Looks to me to be nothing more than a tracking parameter.

Could be you. :)

[Taiwan_Tim]

Since we can mention Google here, can we also mention that Big Company = Microsoft? The page in question, which is the homepage for driver development resources, is definitely under the Microsoft website.

The keyword is related to a special type of device that sometimes needs a driver, so that could be the reason they feel motivated to get a high ranking for this keyword phrase.

However, I don't see why they feel obligated to hide the keyword phrase in the way that they do, and I would think that Google's technology would be sophisticated enough to weed it out.

If it's a tracking parameter, fine, but why include Google on the page in this way, and with that keyword phrase? I would think they'd have the decency to do what the rest of us do and put it in plain view.

[Key_Master]

What you see in the cache doesn't match what I see in the cache. It's a tracking parameter. Nothing evil about it. Nothing unusual about it. You can take a deep breath and move on- black hat Microsoft SEO are not out to get you.

For your searching enjoyment:
[google.com...]

[Wizard]

I guess this is just a tracking parameter, and the reason for this guess is exactly this part with Google URL. I guess this tracking link is generated dynamically and the parameter in question is just HTTP_REFERER variable (the URL of refering page) - referers are important information in tracking, so there is a reason to put one into tracking link. To make sure about this, just enter the page in question writing its URL manually into browser, instead of clicking on the link in Google results. If my guess is right, you won't see the Google URL in that case. And Googlebot also wouldn't see it as it never bears any referer.

[Taiwan_Tim]

I see, and thanks for the explanation.

If I search on Google using a different keyword phrase, but one that still displays a link to the Microsoft page in question, then it's the keyword phrase just searched on that appears in the Microsoft page's html code.

However, it's still interesting that the page's content is powerful enough to get high ranking for a 2-word keyword phrase---say "keyword phrase"---for which both words of the phrase appear on the page, but never appear next to each other and in this particular order.

[Wizard]

However, it's still interesting that the page's content is powerful enough to get high ranking for a 2-word keyword phrase---say "keyword phrase"---for which both words of the phrase appear on the page, but never appear next to each other and in this particular order.

This means two things. First, PageRank still matters. Maybe they are mechanisms depreciating PR influence in some cases, especially for sites with unnaturally built PR, but for a Big Site we're talking about, there is a huge amount of natural PR there and it may make it ranking so easily.

Second, Google tends to prefer irrationally small keyphrase density lately. I see it in my referer logs - pages with one occurence of a phrase often rank very high, while phrases often repeated often have positions much below my expectations. Inbound anchor text still gives a lot, so I guess the page in question might have inbounds with these keyphrases in anchor text. Anchor text counting probably works on the page basis, not site basis, so many crosslinks inside high PR site may be one reason for the results observed in this thread.

[Taiwan_Tim]

PR does seem to matter. On my website, almost all of the "old" pages (i.e., those that have been in existence for more that 1 year, and in some cases for 2, 3, or 4 years) have PR of 4, 5, or 6. However, all of the "new" pages (i.e., those added within the past 6 months) have PR of 0. Few of these new pages have external links that link directly to the page.

Few of the new pages also have internal links from every page in the site, although I'm inclined to believe that it's the lack of external links that makes the biggest difference.

Any thoughts on this? And any suggestions on where I can read the latest scoop on SEO for Google?

For example, I always believed that Google ranks "pages," not "sites," but it seems that there is some site ranking going on. I also worked under the assumption the keyword metatag was completely ignored by Google, but I have evidence to indicate that that's not really true.