Using ‘hidden links’ is one of the oldest methods of search engine spam so you wouldn’t expect to see them on a respected news site like the Financial times online, (FT.com). FT.com describes itself as “the world’s leading audited business website, with more than 3.7 million unique users”. But I’ve found hidden links on the site.
The offending links were found while doing competitive link analysis for a client, http://ww w.debtcounsellors.co.uk and within an hour we found 138 of them - all pointing to the site of Moneysupermarket.com.
The hidden links can be found on pages such as ‘FT.com / Your money / Money guides’ . The hidden link is under the list of six partner sites that include The New York Times and Investors Chronicle in the bottom right hand side of the screen.
Here’s an image of how the FT.com page appears to any reader - the link is invisible because the text has been defined as white, the same colour as the background.
Here, if I choose ’select all’ from the View menu on my browser, the link is revealed.
These links are extremely valuable.
Google will regard a site such as FT.com as a trusted authority and any site that FT.com links to will get a significant boost to its ranking. The site will move towards the top of search engine results, bringing more visitors and more lucrative business as a result.
Moneysupermarket.com says that its partners include the Financial Times, Yahoo!, BTopenworld and that over a hundred UK banks, building societies and insurance companies have a trading relationship with moneysupermarket.com. They are big players and in 2002, “sourced over £2 billion in personal loan lending alone” ($3.6 billion).
Such search engine spam on the world’s leading audited business website raises some important questions:
1. Why does FT.com appear to be ignoring one of Google’s top quality guidelines, “Avoid hidden text or hidden links”. Such practices are of course also frowned on by other search engines.
2. Is FT.com selling such links? And if so, who else might they sell hidden links to?
3. Is buying such links common practice for Moneysupermarket.com? If so, who else might they buy hidden links from?
4. Why are the links hidden? Six partners are visible on FT.com with links to their respective websites. Why is Moneysupermarket.com not listed visibly with the other partners?
Debtcouns ellors.co.uk’s director John Porter was understandably upset, “Personal credit is a very crowded market and we have to face fierce competition all the time. That’s a fact of business life but this is hugely unfair competition.”
This example shows that dodgy tactics can be found even on respected websites.
If this is evidence of a deliberate strategy on the part of both or either of these websites, then they need to re-think their strategy.
If on the other hand, it is a one-off rogue element that is responsible, they need to remove the links and tighten their procedures so that it doesn’t happen again.
