Illegal Search Engine Optimization Techniques You Should Avoid

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Illegal Search Engine Optimization Techniques You Should Avoid

By Kurt Eyman, Wednesday, 2nd July 2008

It can be very hard to get noticed on the internet depending on what your company does. Obviously the more popular the type of business you run, the harder it is to compete on the internet. For example, an airplane part supplier would have an easier time getting onto the first pages of google than a printing company. If you are in need of a search engine makeover there are some real tricky ways of doing so but if you get caught you could be penalized for copyright infringement or much worse. Here are a few things to avoid.

Using trademarked keywords in domain names is illegal and can cost a company its license. Applying someone else's trademarked name to attract web surfers violates the federal trademark law, which prohibits the use of someone else's trademark, if it causes a "likelihood of confusion" among consumers. Judges are smart and unless you made an honest mistake they will sniff out your scheme and pleading not guilty will only lead to higher penalties. There are examples of this case when Yahoo sued websites with similar names like DCYahoo.com and AtlantaYahoo.com

Using keywords in meta tags can also be dangerous. For example if a local printing company uses the word Kinko's in their search engine search tags they can be sued because they are not affiliated with Kinko's the printing company. Although it is not against the law, yet, companies have sued over it. It all depends on why and how you are using the tags. If the courts deem that you are using them in s deceptive manner than you will probably lose the lawsuit. There have been cases that the defendant proved that they had a legitimate reason as to why they used the trademarked word in the meta tags.

Deep linking is another tactic used to higher a websites ranking. This is less controversial than the others but your can still be sued in court but there are not as many deep linking cases. It is the practice of making a hyperlink that runs to a specific page or image on another website, instead of that website's main or home page. They are called deep links. Recently a Texas court found that it "does not constitute fair use" and ordered an injunction.

If by chance you considering using these dirty tactics be careful because you get yourself into serious trouble. If your case happens to go public and the media picks it up your company will draw bad press because the networks are most likely to side with big corporations.

About The Author

Kurt is the Public Relations Manager for Kinetica Media, an Internet marketing company that works to harness the power of websites, email and search marketing for businesses so they can get and keep more customers. Visit www.kmsearchmarketing.com to see how their proven online marketing services can increase your customer loyalty & overall sales.

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Illegal Search Engine Optimization Techniques You Should Avoid

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