How can these SOBs get high SERPs?

by DavidO
5 replies
One of my pet peeves is sites that disable the back button. I consider this deliberate manipulation and I thought it was frowned upon.

So why do I come across such sites at the top of Google's search results? They should be penalized, especially when my sites can get docked for minor things I'm not even aware of!
#high #serps #sobs
  • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
    David

    Depending on how a site is coded this can happen without people even realising or for reasons that have nothing to do with manipulation.

    I could go into the technical specifics of the coding issues, but my point is simply that it may not be being done for reasons of manipulation.

    Cheers,

    Neil
    Signature

    Easy email marketing automation without moving your lists.

    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[279549].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author DavidO
    Neil, if this is accidental all is forgiven! I've made many coding mistakes myself. However, I think I'll take a look a the code of this latest one I discovered...

    NEW NOTE: I'm not able to spot this easily in the page code because there are a number of ways to do it. But to top things off this page is nothing but a so-called "searchlander" with no relevant information. Admittedly, it came up in a low-competition search but it's #3 and butting out genuinely information pages.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[279578].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Neil Morgan
      Hi David

      I've made many coding mistakes myself
      It might not be a mistake - it can simply be a side-effect of the way the site has been coded.

      For example, sites that use HTTP redirects in their code to jump from page to page can exhibit this.

      That's just one reason, there are others.

      Cheers,

      Neil
      Signature

      Easy email marketing automation without moving your lists.

      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[279584].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author NinjaReports
    There are also sites that redirect you to another site when you hit the back button. Used to be popular back in the day.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[279625].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author MalachaiGoodman
    I actually did this by accident once... I was trying to autodetect the visitor's screen resoloution with JavaScript. I would then redirect them to a specific HTML file based on the result of the script.

    This was HORRIBLE programming BTW. Not only did I have five identical files for various screen resoloutions, but it had the side effect of disabling the back button. (Folks would hit "back", be taken to the page that detected their screen res, and automatically be put back where they were...)
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[279733].message }}

Trending Topics