Spamdexing is the promotion of irrelevant, chiefly commercial, pages through deceptive techniques and the abuse of the search algorithms. Many search engine administrators consider any form of search engine optimization used to improve a website’s page rank as spamdexing. However, over time a widespread consensus has developed in the industry as to what are and are not acceptable means of boosting one’s search engine placement and resultant traffic.

As search engines operate in a highly automated way it is often possible for webmasters to use methods and tactics not approved by search engines to gain better ranking. These methods often go unnoticed unless an employee from the search engine manually visits the site and notices the activity, or a change in ranking algorithm causes the site to lose the advantage thus gained. Sometimes a company will employ an SEO consultant to evaluate competitor’s sites, and report “unethical” optimization methods to the search engines.

Spamdexing often gets confused with legitimate search engine optimization techniques, which do not involve deceit. Spamming involves getting web sites more exposure than they deserve for their keywords, leading to unsatisfactory search results. Optimization involves getting web sites the rank they deserve on the most targeted keywords, leading to satisfactory search experiences.

When discovered, search engines may take action against those found to be using unethical SEO methods. In February 2006, Google removed both BMW Germany and Ricoh Germany for use of these practices.[1]

Legal issues

In 2002, search engine manipulator SearchKing filed suit in an Oklahoma court against the search engine Google. SearchKing’s claim was that Google’s tactics to prevent spamdexing constituted an unfair business practice. This may be compared to lawsuits which email spammers have filed against spam-fighters, as in various cases against MAPS and other DNSBLs. In January of 2003, the court pronounced a summary judgment in Google’s favor. [2]

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Cheerleaders at a pep rally

Promotion is one of the four aspects of marketing. The other three parts of the marketing mix are product management, pricing, and distribution. Promotion involves disseminating information about a product, product line, brand, or company.

Promotion comprises four subcategories:

• Advertising
• Personal selling
• Sales promotion
• Publicity and public relations

The specification of these four variables creates a promotional mix or promotional plan. A promotional mix specifies how much attention to pay to each of the four subcategories, and how much money to budget for each. A promotional plan can have a wide range of objectives, including: sales increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity, positioning, competitive retaliations, or creation of a corporate image.

Example

The publicity for the 40th anniversary of the 1966 NCAA Basketball championship included

1. The renaming of a city street
2. A tie-in with an autobiography with the same title
3. The screening of a film with the same title
4. The release of a breakfast cereal box with coordinated materials
5. A pep rally on a university campus
6. Media coverage

Example 2: Veranda Park

A new residential development, Veranda Park, while under construction in Orlando, Florida, USA was promoted on-site using adverisements on the construction-site fence known as Fence Mesh. A brief look at how the marketing team met the basic marketing objectives:

1. Sales Increases

Prospective customers driving or walking in proximity of the outer perimeter of the new development were made aware of the real estate available for purchase.

2. New Product Acceptance

The public was made aware of the new construction a long time before it was finished. This gave the public a chance to gradually accept the new look of this area of the neighborhood. Rather than looking at piles of dirt and construction equipment, the fence mesh treated the public to a much more thoughtful view.

3. Brand Equity

The fence mesh built brand equity by prominently portraying the development’s name in a pleasing and artistic fashion. Compare this development to one without such a fence advertisement. Prospective buyers are much more likely to remember a development with fence mesh advertising over one which does not.

4. Positioning

The fence created an extremely distinct image of the high quality type of development under construction by use of images and text describing the available services and types of real estate.

5. Corporate Image

It would be fair to say that a corporation which cared enough about the appearance of their construction site to design, install and maintain a tasteful and artistic representation of their finished product on such a large scale might be perceived in a positive light.

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“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” - John Wanamaker, father of modern advertising.

Billboard, New York City, (2005)

The impact of advertising has been a matter of considerable debate and many different claims have been made in different contexts. During debates about the banning of cigarette adervertising, a common claim from cigarette manufacturers was that cigarette advertising does not encourage people to smoke who would not otherwise.^[1] The (eventually successful) opponents of advertising, on the other hand, claim that advertising does in fact increase consumption.^[2]

According to many media sources, the past experience and state of mind of the person subjected to advertising may determine the impact that advertising has. Children under the age of four may be unable to distinguish advertising from other television programs, whilst the ability to determine the truthfullness of the message may not be developed until the age of eight.^[3]

References

1. ↑ Memorandum by British American Tobacco from The Tobacco Industry and the Health Risks of Smoking (TB 28) paragraph 272, “Cigarette advertising does not cause people to smoke”, presented before the House of Commons Select Committee on Health 13 January 2000, verifed 2005-12-31
2. ↑ Frequently asked Questions: Tobacco Advertising, “persuades non-smokers (especially the young) to start smoking” from ASH
3. ↑ Lawrence, Felicity (2004). “The Ready Meal”, Kate Barker Not on the Label, 265, Penguin. ISBN 0-141-01566-7.

• Bhatia, Tej K. 2000. Advertising in Rural India: Language, Marketing Communication, and Consumerism. Institute for the Study of Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa. Tokyo University of Foreign Studies. Tokyo Press: Japan. ISBN 4-87297-782-3

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Video: Advertising - What psychological tricks do they use?

Billboards and street advertising in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan, (2005)

Generally speaking, advertising is the promotion of goods, services, companies and ideas, usually by an identified sponsor. Marketers see advertising as part of an overall promotional strategy. Other components of the promotional mix include publicity, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion.

Online advertising is advertising on the Internet. This particular form of advertising is a source of revenue for an increasing number of websites and companies.

There are two sides to online advertising, a legitimate one and an illegitimate one. The legitimate side of online advertising includes search engine advertising, advertising networks and opt-in e-mail advertising. The illegitimate side is dominated by spamming.

Though the range of advertising options has expanded since in the commercialization of the Internet, the use of rich media and static images is extremely popular. The ever-increasing audience of online users will likely continue to be a major advertising market.

This guide is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia.