Is This Cheating?

**surefire** · August 30, 2003

In an attempt to teach myself how to move up the rankings in google, I started looking through the code of some of the sites that score better than mine for the primo search phrases in our niche.

I came across a site that is on the first page of results... and has stuffed the HEAD section full of code that normally goes in the BODY section of the site. Like content, text links, etc.

Now, NONE of this stuff is visible in the browser. But apparently, it's not hurting their score since they're kicking my butt.

Here's the site

bereanhealthcare.com

What do you guys make of this? Nifty trick, or a ban from Google waiting to happen?

Edited August 30, 2003 by Head Guru

**Head Guru** · August 30, 2003

You just gave them a link...lol

edited out by me..

:lol:

**TCH-Dick** · August 30, 2003

No its not cheating, those are Meta tags. Here is a link to a good explanation of meta tags

How To Use HTML Meta Tags

**TCH-Dick** · August 30, 2003

Oh Yea, one more thing. For those of you using PhpNuke you can edit the meta tags also. Just edit meta.php in the /includes folder

**surefire** · August 30, 2003

No... these are not meta tags.

Look closely.

There are text links and regular content BEFORE the closing </head> tag... and therefore it doesn't show up.

<html>
<head>

<title>Travel Nursing with Berean - Travel Nursing Jobs, Travel Nursing Careers, Contract Nursing</title>

<meta name="title" content="Berean Healthcare Travel Nurse - Travel Nursing Jobs, Travel Nursing Careers, Contract Nursing, RN Job Staffing">

<meta name="keywords" content="travel nursing job staffing, nursing careers, RN jobs, travel nursing agency, nurse employment, RN careers, travel nurse, registered nurse jobs, travel nursing, travel healthcare, travel nurse jobs, nurse staffing, travel nurse company, traveling nurses, job placement agency, travel nursing jobs, allied healthcare staffing, allied travelers, rn traveler, contract nursing, RN jobs, Travel RN Jobs">

<meta name="description" content="Berean Healthcare, the nations leading travel nursing company specializes in nursing Jobs and nurse staffing. Learn more about travel RN opportunities and healthcare staffing by visiting our homepage..">

<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">

<link

rel="stylesheet"

type="text/css"

href="css/visibility-HorizontalMenus.css" />

<script

type="text/javascript"

src="scripts/visibility-HorizontalMenuBuilder.js">

</script>

<script

type="text/javascript"

src="scripts/visibility-HorizontalMenuWriter.js">

</script>

<noscript>

<div id="NavBar">

<div id="LinkBar">

<div id="Link1">

<a href="whoweare.asp" title="About Berean Healthcare Staffing - Travel Nursing Agency">About Us</a>

<a href="application.asp" title="Berean Healthcare Travel Nursing Online Application">Apply Now</a>

<a href="nursing.asp" title="Berean Healthcare Travel Nurse Staffing">Nurse Staffing</a>

<a href="news.asp" title="Berean Healthcare Travel Nurse News & Press Releases">Travel Nursing News</a>

<a href="jobsearch.asp" title="Find a Berean Healthcare Travel Nursing Job Here">Job Search</a>

<a href="nursing_jobs.asp" title="Find a Berean Healthcare Travel Nursing Job Listed By State">Travel Nursing Jobs by State</a>

<a href="travelstaffing.asp" title="Berean Healthcare Travel Nursing Basics">Travel Nursing</a>

<a href="travelgettingstarted.asp" title="Getting Started as a Berean Healthcare Travel Nurse">Getting Started</a>

<a href="travelpay.asp" title="Pay & Benefits Offered to Berean Healthcare Travel Nurses">Pay & Benefits</a>

<a href="travelfaq.asp" title="Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for Berean Healthcare Travel Nurses">Travel Nursing FAQ</a>

<a href="contactus.asp" title="Contact Berean Healthcare Travel Nurse On-line">Contact Us</a>

<a href="skillscheck.asp" title="Berean Healthcare Travel Nursing Skills Checklists">Skills Checklists</a>

<span class="mainttext">

<font size="2"><b>TRAVEL NURSING NEWS - Berean Healthcare Travel Nurse is the most visited travel nurse site on the web!</b></font>

Berean Healthcare Travel Nurse would like to thank all of our travel nurse staff for making us the most visited travel nursing site on the web. Each month more than 30,000 travel nurses visit Berean Healthcare Travel Nurse on the web for information on travel nursing careers, travel nursing jobs, and breaking travel nursing market news. Berean Healthcare Staffing also provides travel nurses around the world with helpful travel nursing tools that cannot be found anywhere else! We appreciate your interest in our travel nursing site and we shall endeavor to maintain the highest quality travel nursing content on the web! <br><br>

<font size="2"><b>TRAVEL NURSING</b></font>

Berean healthcare travel nursing is a healthcare staffing and management company specializing in recruitment, staffing, credentialing and education of healthcare professionals for Government and Private Sector healthcare facilities. We are also proud to announce that we staff all Healthcare Professionals and Ancillary Support Personnel, including Registered Nurses, Pharmacists, Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, Medical Record Reviewers, Medical Assistants, CNAs, LPNs, and Pharmacy Technicians/Aides.

Berean Healthcare Travel nursing offers healthcare professionals a rewarding employment opportunity as well as an ultimate experience to earn a great salary, see the world, and challenge your clinical experience like never before. If you have at least one year of hospital experience, Berean Healthcare Staffing will find a travel assignment that will maximize your career development skills.<br><br>

Our recruiter works with you to find the location of your preference, length of assignment, type of facility and shift that will match your experience and goals. We'll do everything possible to make sure you are provided with the best travel experience ever!<br><br>

<b>GREAT OPPORTUNITIES</b><br>

You will have the opportunity to work at some of the nations finest health care facilities; whether you're looking for a large teaching hospital, an urban trauma center, or a rural hospital. We are very proud of our nurses and the reputation they have earned our company.<br><br>

Every page on the Berean Healthcare Travel Nursing site has been certified by our travel nursing staff to contain and deliver the most informative information on travel nursing jobs, travel nursing careers, and contract nursing.

Berean Healthcare Travel Nursing is dedicated to producing, updating, and delivering the best content possible for you as a travel nurse. We are sure you will find this travel nursing information

extremely helpful, as do our over 40,000 visiting travel nurses each month. That is right! Berean Healthcare Travel Nursing attracts over 40,000 unique visitors, travel nurses that is, each month. If

you are interested in anything that has to do with travel nursing, travel nursing jobs, travel nursing careers, continuing education, allied healthcare staffing, or any type of travel healthcare

staffing, please sign up for our <a href="travel_nursing_mail_list.asp" title="Sign up for Berean Healthcare Travel Nursing Special Offers">Travel Nursing Special Offers Mailing List</a>. We greatly appreciate

you stopping by our travel nursing site and we hope you found this page very informative on the subject of travel nursing.<br><br>

Getting started is easy! Call 1-877-BEREAN-2 and request an application or complete the application on line. Remember, completing your application does not obligate you to travel. It enables us to search for job opportunities based on your specialty and preferences.<br></span>

</div>

<div id="Link2"><a href="#"></a></div>

<div id="Link3"><a href="#"></a></div>

<div id="Link4"><a href="#"></a></div>

</div>

</div>

</noscript>

<script language="JavaScript1.2" type="text/javascript">

var name;

function itemOn(name){

eval("document." + name + ".src = 'images/" + name + "_on.jpg'");

}

function itemOff(name){

eval("document." + name + ".src = 'images/" + name + "_off.jpg'");

}

function popUp300(page) {

if ( navigator.appName=='Microsoft Internet Explorer' ) {

props0=window.open(page, 'poppage', 'dependent=1,toolbars=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbars=0,menubars=0,resizable=

,width=500,height=300,left=50,top=50');

} else {

props0=window.open(page, 'poppage', 'toolbar=no,scrollbars=no,location=no,status=no,menubar=no,resizable=no,dependent=

es,width=500,height=300,screenX=50,screenY=50');

};

}

</script>

</head>

**Deverill** · August 30, 2003

It's malformed html at best. I would bet that this is a ban waiting to happen. It's clear that they never meant for it to ever be visible considering the way their page looks - if it were in the body it would wreck the page.

I'm sure our resident SEO expert could speak more informedly (nice word, eh? ) on this topic but my feeling is that it's not worth risking a ban even to get top ratings because one crawl could ban you and it is nearly impossible to recover from a ban even after you "fix" it.

**TCH-Dick** · August 30, 2003

I could be wrong, alot of this is new to me. But all of that in blue looks like the menu script . But all that in red seems like a little extra to get better ranked.

Travel Nursing with Berean - Travel Nursing Jobs, Travel Nursing Careers, Contract Nursing

rel="stylesheet"

type="text/css"

href="css/visibility-HorizontalMenus.css" />

<script

type="text/javascript"

src="scripts/visibility-HorizontalMenuBuilder.js">

<script

type="text/javascript"

src="scripts/visibility-HorizontalMenuWriter.js">

<script language="JavaScript1.2" type="text/javascript">

var name;

function itemOn(name){

eval("document." + name + ".src = 'images/" + name + "_on.jpg'");

}

function itemOff(name){

eval("document." + name + ".src = 'images/" + name + "_off.jpg'");

}

function popUp300(page) {

   if ( navigator.appName=='Microsoft Internet Explorer' ) {

props0=window.open(page, 'poppage', 'dependent=1,toolbars=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbars=0,menubars=0,resizable=

,width=500,height=300,left=50,top=50');

   } else {

props0=window.open(page, 'poppage', 'toolbar=no,scrollbars=no,location=no,status=no,menubar=no,resizable=no,dependent=

es,width=500,height=300,screenX=50,screenY=50');

   };

}

**SEO** · August 31, 2003

Jack:

No, this is not 'cheating'.

NONE of this stuff is visible in the browser

Actually it is visible... scroll down on the page. Someone who knows something about SEO has worked on this site. This probably was a visual site only and an SEO person said 'we need to get some body text on the index page' (which is what I would have said). One way to do this is they way they choose.... most people do not read it (or even see it) but it is there and spiders will pick it up.

I have no problem with this strategy (under their circumstance).

Make sense?

**Deverill** · August 31, 2003

Boy did I miss that one. Thanks for straightening that out dsdemmin... that's why you're the best!

**TCH-JimE** · September 1, 2003

Hi,

There thats replicated twice? Because its visible in the code twice too?

Jim

Edited September 1, 2003 by Jimuni

**surefire** · September 2, 2003

Actually it is visible... scroll down on the page.

Okay... Although I admit that I didn't see that on my first or second visit (which makes it a good trick) this doesn't change the fact that there is content in the head portion of the page.

Before someone says "So, what? They wrote bad html..."

It's done on purpose.

This page

bereanhealthcare.com/sitemap.asp

Has none of the text and text links that are hidden in the head tags.

If anyone spends a few minutes to REALLY inspect this page, I promise that you will see that there is true deception going on here. And apparently, it is working!

That doesn't necessarily mean that it's bad... but definitely used for one purpose only... to fool search engines for better rankings.

**SEO** · September 3, 2003

Jack:

You are correct that their HTML is 'bad'. The section that they have prior to the /head tag is not contributing to there rank (I promise). It may be actually hurting their rank (or eventually shall).

However, they are utilizing sound SEO strategies that they are obviously benefiting from.

It is wise to examine pages that do rank high to 'see' what techniques are working (you do have to sift through the noise though).

Good luck.

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