SE techniques

will this get banned eventually or is it ok to use?

[Andrew Thomas]

I come across a number of sites, where if i search for "widgets plymouth" the top result on most major SE is www.widget.com/plymouth.asp the same company will have top spot for areas all around the UK eg /swindon.asp /bristol.asp

When you look at their 'contact us' page, they are actually located somewhere completly different, eg scotland.

Is this just clever optimisation, or would you eventually be banned from SE for using this technique?

As this site i keep looking at has been around for over 4 months now uses this technique, and must be getting lots of hits!

thanks

[HelenDev]

As this site i keep looking at has been around for over 4 months now uses this technique, and must be getting lots of hits!

It might be getting lots of hits, but are people going to bother hanging around once they find out it isn't what they want? If people are looking for widgets plymouth they are not likely to want to get their widgets from Scotland. It sounds like such traffic is pretty worthless.

[Born_User]

A good read is Google's Webmaster Guidelines [google.com]. I doubt that you'll get banned from SE's altogether. If it's a competitive term, it may be possible that a competitor would write to Google and let them know. Unless it's something particularly eggregious, it's highly unlikely that Google would take notice, although don't take it to the bank. In other words, if you do it, make sure that it's not something that you're absolutely depending on.

SE's seem to be more interested in sweeping violations, I think. Notice I said "sweeping". A small violation spread across many, many pages is indeed likely to catch their attention. I say this because I have received notice from G saying, "fix this problem please". Yes, I was trying to manipulate their results... and honestly it's hard to not find yourself trying to manipulate them at lease some. Many of us find ourselves in that mode without even realizing it.

In short... on a small limited scale, you're unlikely to be discovered, unless it's a highly competitive term. Even then, if it's a minor infraction and is not sweeping in scope, you're likely to skate by.

That's my experience. Anyone else is welcome to share theirs.

[Born_User]

It might be getting lots of hits, but are people going to bother hanging around once they find out it isn't what they want? If people are looking for widgets plymouth they are not likely to want to get their widgets from Scotland. It sounds like such traffic is pretty worthless.

It sounds like he may be targeting for adsense traffic. The ads would, most likely, present based on the html filename and/or page title. In that case, I can see his angle. If he IS targeting for Adsense, then the user would get to his page, not care about the content and turn instead to the ads.

BEWARE** If an Adsense competitor notices that and turns him in, the Adsense team WILL get involved, even if it's limited to one page. (Again, my own experience). I may have missed the mark, and it may not be adsense he's targeting for, though. Just a thought.

[Andrew Thomas]

thanks for the comments.

It is a very competitive word. And each area is duplicated text, the only thing that ever changes is the file name, and the place name.

I thought this would have been picked up, just for the duplicate text content.

HelenDev - It is a web service they are offering, so location shouldnt really be an issue.

[HelenDev]

HelenDev - It is a web service they are offering, so location shouldnt really be an issue

Fair enough :) In that case it does make me wonder why users would bother typing in a location at all though.

[caveman]

I see no reason why they would or should have any problem in this regard, as long as their pages are relevant and/or the products/services they provide are in sync with the searches being conducted.