Sorry this site requires JavaScript to be enabled in your browser. See the following guide on How to enable JavaScript in Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox and Safari. Alternatively you may be blocking JavaScript with an advert-related or developer plugin. Please check your browser plugins.

Sphinn Home » SEO
How to use URL Search to get thousands of visitors
SEO News Source: http://www.blogstorm.co.uk
Published: Aug 04, 2008 - 11:31 am
Story Found By: tomcritchlow 2087 Days ago
Category: SEO
Wow - Patrick knocks another one out of the park. A simple but elegant idea for getting lots of traffic from your competitors. Look how the URL is bolded in the title - really nice idea.
 Comments12 Comments  

Comments

Avatar
from ChrisOD 2087 Days ago #
Votes: 1

Really interesting little idea.Definitely an element of ’gaming’ SE’s here, so it would be interesting to see how it would be viewed.Additionally, even with a link to the correct website, if it was my URL that was being hijacked (maybe a harsh term, but not overly wide of the mark), I’d be less than happy I think.As someone on the blog writes, need a bit of time to digest how it could be used.

Avatar
from clickfire 2087 Days ago #
Votes: 1

Good stuff. Removing the www can also vary the results.

Avatar
from onreact 2087 Days ago #
Votes: 1

The example is a litle sneaky, you can do that 100% white hat too.

Avatar
from sza 2087 Days ago #
Votes: 1

Methods like this are especially potent when the legitimate number 1 result is spiced up with a "This site may harm your computer" message, and nobody dares to click on it.

Avatar
from planetc1 2087 Days ago #
Votes: 1

Interesting. I’d like to see a non sneaky example like onreact mentions.

Avatar
from Kimota 2086 Days ago #
Votes: 1

Just seems a little too spammy for my tastes. Anything that takes SERP spots away from more relevant results seems exploitative to me. How many of the visitors thought it was a worthwhile click?Sphunn for making me think.

Avatar
from sza 2086 Days ago #
Votes: 1

I don’t see how this is spammy or sneaky.For a URL search, there are at most 2 really relevant results (the actual URL + a close match from the same domain as an indented result). Perhaps 4 good results, if there is an alternative URL (subdomain instead of directory, or something like that).The rest of the SERP is up for grabs.It’s Google’s search engine. They could easily decide that because there is only one perfect result for a URL search, they show only one result instead of ten. Then this "trick" wouldn’t work. But they still choose to show 10 results, so what’s wrong with getting in there among those 10?

Avatar
from DarkMatter 2086 Days ago #
Votes: 1

I do think this is a little deceptive for natural search, but I use competitor domains as keywords in my PPC campaigns. That way, my competitor’s organic listing will still be there for the consumer to find, but they may also want to check out the alternative I offer in PPC ads.

Avatar
from Kimota 2086 Days ago #
Votes: 0

How is it not spammy? It’s designed purely for the search engines and not the visitor. It provides no useful relevance to the visitor’s query, despite claiming it does by making claims that are just plain untrue (offering a discount on taxdiscs). It relies on tricking users into detouring through Patrick’s site while gaining no value on the way (unless their shopping list that morning was "replace tax disc, find new SEO services").As far as SEO goes, I’m the novice and many of you are the experts, and I’m a big fan of Patrick’s stuff. But if it smells like bacon and carves like a loaf, I’m guessing its spam without waiting for Matt Cutts to show me the tin.Happy to hear why it isn’t, cause otherwise it’s brilliantly clever.

Avatar
from yojpotter2 2086 Days ago #
Votes: -1

I haven’t tried this one...I might as well give it a try..anyways thanks for sharing.

Avatar
from patrickaltoft 2085 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Kimota - The use of this on my site was merely an illustration, if you rank for a url your biggest competitor has been promoting offline then you should be able to figure out a way to offer them value.And even with the example on my site the visitors couldn’t find the link without my help so I’m guessing they went away happy.

Avatar
from JeffMHoward 1959 Days ago #
Votes: 0

Great idea, can’t imagine the bounce rate is below 70%

Upcoming Conferences

Search Marketing ExpoSearch Engine Land produces SMX, the Search Marketing Expo conference series. SMX events deliver the most comprehensive educational and networking experiences - whether you're just starting in search marketing or you're a seasoned expert.


SMX Web Site » | SMX Difference » | SMX News »

Join us at an upcoming SMX event:

Latest News From Marketing Land
Upcoming Webcasts

Digital Marketing Depot Learn more about search marketing with our free online webcasts and webinars from our sister site, Digital Marketing Depot. Upcoming online events include:


Webcasts:
Research:
Whitepapers:

See More Topics

Latest News From Search Engine Land