Justin Musiker
@seojus1
Latest posts by Justin Musiker (see all)
- 2013 Safe Link Building Info - February 26, 2013
- Top Ranking SEO Companies Hiding Links In JavaScript & Widgets – Ethical? - February 19, 2013
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Note: I will not be naming names or companies here, it is not my intention to harm or slander anyone, I just want to bring awareness to people about this horrible tactic that companies are using.
Many of the Top Ranking SEO Companies are hiding links in JavaScript & Widgets on their clients sites which point back to their site and and their other client’s sites. They are intentionally doing this, to hide them from their clients to see. To me, this is completely unethical, and basically stealing their PageRank from them.
The reason I stated “Top Ranking SEO Companies” instead of “Top SEO Companies” is because a good, ethical, and noteworthy SEO Company would not be participating in this kind of link building tactic.
As an owner of a Florida SEO Company, it is my duty to research my competitors and their link profiles. I am constantly analyzing these companies to see where there links are coming from, and what type of anchor text they are using. While I was doing this a month or two ago using Ahrefs which is one of the best backlink analysis tools, I came across many SEO Companies doing this. I was completely shocked. Do the clients know they are doing this? I highly doubt it.
Here is how to see where a link is coming from while using the backlink tool:
1) Go to your favorite backlink checker tool
2) Enter the domain you are looking to research
3) If you are using Ahrefs.com. there will be a “new/lost” tab at the top of the page
4) Click this and you will see the incoming new and lost links per day
5) Once you are there right click on the referring page URL and open in a new tab
6) Use you find command or keyboard shortcut and type in the anchor text that is listed for that referring page URL
7) If the find command says “0 of 0″ or “not found”, this means that the link is hidden
8) Next, right click on the page and choose “view page source”
9) Repeat step 6, and you will see the link and anchor text either in JavaScript or a Widget
I am almost positive that the owner of the site does not know this is there. There is the accepted practice of placing your link at the footer of the page if you’re a Web Designer or SEO Company. Most site owners are ok with this, but there are some that are not, and their decision has to be respected.
Do you think this is ethical? Is this stealing PageRank technically? How would you feel if you found out their were hidden links on your site that you have spent thousands of hours and money on? If you are curious or wondering what types of links are coming to your site or which are going out, use a backlink checker tool and use the steps above on your own site, but search for “a href” on your own page.
![DiTesco of IBlogZone the SEO Guru Who Helps You Succeed Online [Featured Blogger]](http://cdn.comluv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Ditesco.jpg)
This is not ethical . We need natural traffic ,not the traffic obtained by doing black hat SEO
Helen Wright recently posted..Home
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Helen, your absolutely correct, it is not ethical and not the the right thing to do.
Justin Musiker recently posted..5 Important On Page SEO Tips
Twitter: bollywoodle_in
Wooo.. Who said this is ethical? They are going to suffer very soon who are doing this… Atleast I wont take risk doing these stuff..
Kasim recently posted..Rangeelay Theatrical trailer
Twitter: seojus1
Since writing this article I have seen a few 1 or 2 of the companies doing this drop out of the SERPS, so they did surfer!
Justin Musiker recently posted..Link Building Strategy For 2013
Twitter: ashuaj2
Hi Justin i was just read your article and i a got a topic its”hiding links” it is under black hat seo or what please explain.
Ashutosh recently posted..Insurance Software- The vital need of financial industry
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Ashutosh,
Yes, what they are doing is hiding links on their clients sites, and the clients do not know about it. I is 100% Black Hat.
Twitter: internetdreamof
Does Google index those kinds of links in Javascript?
If they do and these SEO companies are hiding something, then their credibility is going to go down the drain starting with this article.
That is why I constantly learn about SEO and do it myself
Samuel Pustea recently posted..3 Twitter Tools For You To Succeed On Twitter!
Twitter: seojus1
Hey Samuel,
As far as I have seen, yes they do index links inside Java. However, I am happy to say, that since writing this article I have seen a few of those companies doing this drop off of the first page.
Here is a small post by Matt Cutts about hiding links
Justin Musiker recently posted..CommentLuv Premium Detailed Review
Soon Google would find out that these top ranking SEO companies are doing somewhat black hat SEO and will surely penalize them in future or you can report these sites.
Thanks for the post, this post is ethical and what they are doing is not.
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Anurag,
It seems as though they did find out, but I am sure they have known about this for awhile now, it just takes them a while to catch up. See the reply above with the link in it…
Justin Musiker recently posted..The Truth About PageRank
Twitter: umpreetturtlers
Wow i did not know that this kind of a strategy even existed. !! But i son’t think in the longer run , google would penalise them if not now. and that is blackhat , acc. to me.
myles recently posted..Improve Gaming on iPad using Audojo Case
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Myles,
It really does exist, and it is a shame that they are doing it, not only does it dirty SEO companies in general, but it is taking advantage of these clients who have no clue their site is being used like this. And Google seems to have penalized a few of them from the time I wrote this until now.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
Twitter: neulabs
Just for the sake of getting good search engine positions, they are doing such low quality things. This is absolutely not ethical.
Kyle recently posted..Slava Tech Vacuum Tube Flash Drive
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Kyle,
I completely agree, not only are they cheating themselves, they are cheating their clients. Could you imagine finding out you had hidden links on your site?
Justin Musiker recently posted..iPhone Repair In Boca Raton
hmm didnt know about that but google will crack them down soon and i’d never be happy if i get at the top level using such unethical techs..
wazz recently posted..Yeah !!! You can workout at home !!!
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Wazz,
Many people were unaware of this practice, hence why I wrote this!! It certainly is not something to be proud of, and they are now paying the consequences.
Twitter: @kirbyseo
We gotta give Google some credit for being smart enough to not read what’s in javascript. This practice isn’t unethical, just a waste of time. The companies doing this don’t know SEO.
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Kirby,
It seems they have read it, which is why they were in top positions at one time, it is just recently that they must of taken action, and penalized these companies.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
Twitter: 2009Taxes
I am trying to figure out if the image is representative of what you are saying. Because you show that the Googlebot is not allowed to scan the javascript based on the robots.txt file so therefore, Google would ignore these hidden links. Then what would be the point? And I thought Google had a hard time reading Javascript as is?
Steve recently posted..District Court Rules That The TurboTax 2013 Ads Can Continue To Run
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Steve,
Sorry for the confusion, the picture is not representing the actual robots.txt file. It is saying that they should not, because their are hidden links in that and the widgets. It is just a picture, but it should of been more clear, my apologies. Google can read JavaScript, most drop down navigation menus are JavaScript, some people just think it is more difficult for them to crawl.
Justin Musiker recently posted..CommentLuv Premium Detailed Review
Twitter: zohraa_online
I beleive it’s completely unethical. I have outsourced my work for my e-commerce company and I am really worried about it. I shall check this with my developer.
Thanks for the information.
Sanjeev Jain recently posted..How to look fantastic in a designer saree?
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Sanjeev,
It is 100% unethical, as everyone seems to agree. I would not be so worried with a web developer, but more so with a SEO Company. However, you can never be too safe. If it worries you, I would use a link checking tool, and enter in the domain of the developer, and if you see any referring pages coming from your site, trace them back to your page.
Twitter: zohraa_online
Thanks Justin for the information. I did check the domain of my developer using the link checking tool and luckily didn’t find any referring pages from my site.
Thanks once again.
Sanjeev Jain recently posted..How to look fantastic in a designer saree?
Twitter: seojus1
That is great to hear, its always good to find out that someone you are paying is not cheating you!!
Justin Musiker recently posted..Do Backlinks Have To Be From A Relevant Site
Twitter: prabhatrayal
doing the wrong thing for our own benefit is not good. this is not ethical. SEO companies should provide services, we do not expect this kind of behavior from them. i am happy that i do SEO by myself. these sites should be penalized.
prabhat recently posted..Download Hike Messenger Free for Android, iPhone, Symbian, & Windows| Whatsapp Alternative
Twitter: seojus1
Prabhat,
I agree, when they decide to take on a client, they are agreeing to get their site to page 1 using legal white hat seo techniques. If they are hiding links, they are only hurting them, and not performing what they were hired to do.
Note: A few of the companies that were doing this have dropped off of page 1, which means they either got penalized, or the links were de-valued.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
Hi Justin, as far as I know, almost all SEO companies use unethical means
Great post, no one thinks or bothers to share such information. Thank you for bringing awareness among us.
Rehmat Alam recently posted..Advantages and Disadvantages of Blogger to WordPress Migration
Twitter: seojus1
Hey Rehmat,
To some degree you are right, but there are some of us that do the right thing. Many people think certain techniques are not ethical, but it’s not the same, using a clients site to rank your own and rank other clients is jut plain wrong. I mean, they are hiring you to rank them, not paying to have their own site abused…
Justin Musiker recently posted..5 Important On Page SEO Tips
Agreed, I see some good SEO companies and individuals also. They hire people for guest writing and other purposes and build links for their clients through this and other clean methods. I believe you are also among those few. Sorry to say “HARSH” words against SEO companies. The sentence was about “BAD” ones, not about you
It is enough to understand your mission after reading this post where you have shared some “SECRET” piece of information which others practice.
Rehmat recently posted..Top SEO Plugins That Every Blogger should install in 2013
Twitter: seojus1
No harm taken Rehmat, I knew what you were saying
Twitter: healthy_start_
Not ethical at all. It’s hard to believe that there are people who do that…well, maybe not. It’s kind of similar to an employee taking credit where not credit is due…happens all the time at my husbands work!
Kari recently posted..Leave a Comment: But Make It One You Won’t Regret
Twitter: seojus1
Hi kari,
It is hard to believe, but at the same time, I know that my industry is full of people trying to make a fast buck with no care or concern about their clients or their site which is their livelihood. Those are the ones that give SEO the black eye, and it is a shame.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Link Building Strategy For 2013
Twitter: freedommmc
I’m telling you for a fact a few weeks ago I was on YouTube and I was clicking the volume and it kept redirecting me to an advertiser link.
I refreshed the page and tried over and over again and it kept linking me to an advertiser.
I only noticed this once on one video has anyone else seen this?
Darnell Jackson recently posted..What I learned from Matt Smith – Q&A with The Online Income Teacher.
Twitter: seojus1
Hey Darnell,
I am not really sure about YouTube, I could not tell you the last time I was on there. I am not sure how much control a person has over the actual video controls , but I wouldn’t doubt someone manipulating the controls to re-direct to their site.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
I think there should be a report thing on Google,not only for people like them but also for reporting spam sites.Since last update they re on first on lot of good keywords while good websites got penalized.
Alexis Cruz recently posted..Bullet to the Head (2012)
Twitter: prateek__tweets
Now actually with that kind of a seo you are never gonna survive in the blogosphere . Either Panda or penguin are surely gonna hit the blogs with black seo ..
prateek recently posted..HTC 1 Specifications and Release Date in USA
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Prateek,
You are absolutely correct. Since the writing of this post which was about 2 weeks ago, I have seen a few of these sites drop off of page 1. And that is great news for the ones that are trying as best they can to abide by their rules and guidelines.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
Twitter: IDSGroup1
This will probably get hit by another Google update. Just a netter of time.
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Nick,
They sure will if they have not already, a few of them have dropped off of page 1 since I wrote this.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Do Backlinks Have To Be From A Relevant Site
Well it doesn’t surprise me that an SEO company would do this. Most likely the clients have no idea that they are doing so. All I can say is choose your SEO company wisely. Could you imagine getting penalized and not having a clue why, or to later learn that your SEO company was the reason, yikes.
Ray recently posted..How to Reset Your WordPress Admin Password
Twitter: seojus1
Hey Ray,
Correct, there is no way they have any idea that this is being done to their site. And that’s the bad part, plus in reality they are hiring these guys to help them get to the top, and in turn, they are being used to get the seo company to the top, and then also helping the other clients as well. Double Yikes!
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
Twitter: anilrancorgmail.com
You are absolutely correct. Since the writing of this post which was about 2 weeks ago, I have seen a few of these sites drop off of page 1 ,and great news for the ones that are trying as best they can to abide by their rules and guidelines. so gave the information thanks a lot.
anil bhogia recently posted..Inventory Control System
Twitter: The_ESman
They will only enjoy this for a very short moment. This is Blackhat SEO and am sure it won’t take time before Goddess Google and her updates catches up with them, you can’t fool her for long.
Thanks for the info.
Viren recently posted..Best Email Marketing Templates
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Viren,
You are right, the ones who have not been penalized already will be very soon, or at least when they “G” finds out.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
Thanks for the wounderful post it helped me lots to increase my blog traffic and understand more about seo
sintu kumar recently posted..Hostgator Flat 35% Discount Coupon Code 2013
i think google should introduce some method to report these types of things and other spam stuff.. thanks for the useful post
wazz recently posted..Yeah !!! You can workout at home !!!
Twitter: seojus1
Hey Wazz,
They do have a form to submit sites that you believe are participating in spam techniques, it seems someone has reported a few of them.
Justin Musiker recently posted..5 Important On Page SEO Tips
Twitter: freesimpleseo
Companies are wither doing so, but google don’t read Scripts. So it might not give any good response to companies.
Junaid Raza recently posted..Get indexed in Google Within 24 Hours
Nice article and a wonderful read. i’d like to ask just one question; if an individual perform such on his blog, wont it have an after effect?
babanature recently posted..How To Change the default avatar in blogger blog to a more professional look
Twitter: seojus1
Hello,
This is not something that you would do to your own blog, seo companies are doing this to their clients sites.
Justin Musiker recently posted..iPhone Repair In Boca Raton
Twitter: onlinejobreview
This is not a good practice & once should be careful to check their website for any such hidden link, if they outsourced their SEO work.
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Priya,
Not good practice at all, and that is why I suggested that people check their sites to make sure it iis not being done to them.
i am agree with you this is not ethical all are want netural traffic that we get high PR rank on search engine thanks for sharing this tips.
Twitter: righthatseo
Man. I do a lot of competition analysis and see some of the craziest backlinking techniques that should be banned. Not many are ‘ethical’. I’ve seen links pushed off the visible page but still look fine to bots. Anchor-text that is the same color as their background. And sometimes these techniques are used by “reputable” companies. Ridiculous.
I’m sure any SEO company would know this is going on, but some regular companies prob trust those SEO companies and fail to monitor.
Twitter: Market_Artisan
I didn’t know this existed specifically, but it doesn’t surprise me. I don’t think Google gives much credence to these types of links. Plus, I imagine that their algorithm is smart enough to detect hidden links, thus, making these black hat tactics moot in most cases.
Aye, the efforts people will make to sneak a few links could be spent somewhere else.
Thanks for sharing.
Roderick recently posted..About Me
I beleive it’s completely unethical. They are going to suffer very soon who are doing this. We need natural traffic ,not the traffic obtained by doing black hat SEO
Syazrin Rayhan recently posted..Hack pageview dan ranking alexa dengan mudah
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Syazrin,
Looks like everyone agree, It is completely unethical for them to be doing. Not fair to the client.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Do Backlinks Have To Be From A Relevant Site
Twitter: buildwebsites1
WOW Justin !!
That is a deep SEO trick you have found there.. not good! Especially when these top SEO companies solely promote white hat SEO!
Mitz Pantic recently posted..SEOpressor V5 Review
Twitter: seojus1
Good Morning Mitz,
It sure is a trick, and not a good one at that. Could you imagine just for a second you knew nothing about SEO and hired a company to help you get better rankings. Then you found out that they were using your site to help themselves rank better, and not only that but help their other clients rank better?? Geez..
And your 100% correct, these are the same companies that promote and preach White Hat all day long. These are the ones that give us a bad name. Given, some people think any link building at all is black hat, but that just crosses the line.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
Wow. This is balck-hat.
Fortunately, i am doing my SEO by myself but the siteowners are probably going to be penalised soon for this, knowing google
Jillian Michaels recently posted..Jillian Michaels Body Revolution Review
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Jillian,
Totally black hat in everyone’s book. Good for you for doing it yourself!
Justin Musiker recently posted..The Truth About PageRank
Twitter: knightsbridgebb
Worryingly good news, Nice to know that many people are appreciative and work towards a safe and secure internet with useful results, instead of relying on blackhat and tricks to secure a false ranking position. I work in SEO in an industry that has ALOT of black hat seo but the company i work for still stays strong and sticks to all the good stuff, Maybe thats why we are very well trusted
Peter L recently posted..Welcome to Knightsbridge Babes New Website
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Peter, there are still some good seo companies out there, but one has to be careful who they hire. Glad you work for one of the good guys
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
i don’t think that is ethical in anyway.
Great write up Justin. It makes me wonder what kind of trouble people are getting themselves into when they buy these scam backlink packages
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Sean,
Thank you, I did my best! Depending on the package itself, it can vary on the benefits. But if they are low quality sites, forget about it.
Justin Musiker recently posted..Link Building Strategy For 2013
Twitter: supawayne
Unfortunately the thing about being the “big boys” is having money to do certain things, even if they are unethical unfortunately. All they get is a simple “stop doing that” and usually just continue to do it or pass it off to a “different” company. It’s tough being the honest little guys sometimes huh?
Wayne II recently posted..Network Marketing Success-3 SHOCKINGLY Easy Techniques To Use Online
Twitter: seojus1
Hey Wayne,
I agree, being “big” def has some benefits. I wish I could update this post, because since writing it, which was about 2 weeks ago, I have seen a quite a few of these sites drop off of page 1. There is hope!!
Justin Musiker recently posted..CommentLuv Premium Detailed Review
Twitter: ESLGroups_com
I completely agree with the other posters that we need true webtraffic and not the black hat method mentioned in your article.
I read yesterday that Google actually reads some (but not all) Javascript looking for hidden links. Seems like a risky move that’s more than likely going to catch up with you in the end!
Twitter: seojus1
Hey Ben,
It is debated upon many that they can and cant read JS. I believe they do. Since most of the link checker sites have these links indexed in their system, they use bots, not exactly the same as Google of course, but same concept, so if they report these links, I am sure G can see them too.
Twitter: OnlineStrategy
Not only this is unethical, it is also a very old trick. I’m flabbergasted that some SEO companies would adopt this practice.
Ava recently posted..A Social Media Lesson from The Art of Marketing, in Vancouver
Twitter: seojus1
Hello Ava,
Very old trick, but still used and abused by many.
Twitter: googlefaceboook
really it is horrible and unethical, but they dont stop it.if google can change their gameplan in future
what they do? wait and see.
ajay kumar recently posted..about facebook user profiles
Twitter: Praveen_Bhrdwaj
Such a thing is for sure unethical. If you have already charged your customers for providing your services, you must not cheat him and do such things. It’s all about honesty towards your work.
Praveen Bhardwaj recently posted..Most Popular Android Games of 2013
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Praveen,
Completely right, if hired by a company for our services, its only right to do the right thing. Karma is a mother f*****
Justin Musiker recently posted..Buying A High PR Domain
I am new to learn SEO but it is very interesting to read your article. It seems that those people would just want to get money only not trust. Well, usually easy come easy go…
Business practices and ethical practices are often on opposite pages. Trying to compromise can be difficult.
Robert Koenig recently posted..More Cases of Meningitis Diagnosed in Michigan
Twitter: seojus1
Hi Robert,
True, but when you run a business, it’s your responsibility to to do the right thing, and not compromise your clients, specially if it is their bread and butter.
Twitter: HI_SEO
In addition to being unethical, the clients site is actually cloaking the links! They are putting their clients rankings at risk by doing this since the site is showing one set of information to Google and another to Users. This to me is worse than the underhanded nature in which they are creating their links, it’s just one small step away from SQL injection spamming in my opinion.
Twitter: IncomeMC
Hi Justin,
Must say this is unethical. It’s not only SEO companies that are doing this. Even some wordpress theme builders do it by hiding links in the themes they sell. One just needs to be careful.
Chadrack recently posted..How To Choose An SEO Content Writer For Your Content Marketing Needs!
Twitter: SmallWebBiz
I’m not surprised, many SEO companies have made good money out of using sneaky tactics. Googles recent clampdown on spam has done a good job but will just drive more custom to those who still get away with this sort of thing. I’ve seen SEO companies who say you just need to install their widget, I guess it’s like a very sophisticated link exchange.
Mike Escott recently posted..Steady SEO
Has anyone else noticed that in the past couple of weeks all the top seo companies have dropped out of search for ‘search engine optimization’? Not naming names, but all the ‘big’ companies have seen massive drops and it seems to be changing daily with more being targeted. Could this be related to the use of hidden links?
Nice work Justin! Were the links dofollow or nofollow? If they are nofollow would they still steal page rank?
Also what do you think about site owners who pay SEO companies to find links for them – isn’t that just a version of Paid Links?
Carolm recently posted..Website Security: Security Checklist For Bloggers
Twitter: surajramnani
total unethical..Just because they are big companies and know a great deal about loopholes does not mean they are better in writing than others..
Suraj recently posted..Triple H Signs Contract at WWE Raw on 18/03/2013
Twitter: musicianmakers7
Definitely unethical. Big companies are already at the top and they should maintain an ethical stance to prove they belong on top. I just see them as scums now
Leslie Edwards recently posted..The Basics On How To Make Electronic Music: Drum Loops
Twitter: keralpatel
I do know a very high ranking site. Infact I was the one who made those widgets for them. They are still ranking very well for some very competitive terms. I don’t know if it is ethical or not but I was just paid as a programmer to do the job and I did it. Side by side after seeing their case I atleast learnt some very useful tips for free.
Keral Patel recently posted..The Best Server Options For Colocation
Twitter: TpeBlg
It is not ethical at all. It is funny how some companies call themselves as professional SEO company. Most of the client generally don’t know what they are getting into.
Chang recently posted..When is The Color Run Coming to Taiwan?
Twitter: anastris
Yes, it is not ethical i think. not only big companies does this thing, there are many company do this thing too..
anastris recently posted..Sepatu Nike Versi Angrybird.. wuii..
Hey Justin,
Nice post and Thanks for sharing this important post with us. I am really shocked after reading this post and Thanks for sharing these useful tips for checking from where the link is coming.
Sudipto recently posted..Best Android Phone Under 10000
Twitter: WebEmergence
Have to say very unethical. While creating a new facebook page, we searched for “like button” widgets and found several free ones. Most of which had hidden links in the coding which we avoided. Simply unbelievable how far people will go to get website traffic. Long story short, we opted to use the Facebook button in the developers section – not pretty, but it will do. Again, thanks for sharing this article.
Greg recently posted..DoFollow Blog