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Scamalot: More than ever, shoppers need to be wary online
- ryanwaggoner 17y agoFor being written in November 2009, this is comedy: Of the various marketing ploys used in business to promote websites, the most controversial is a technique known as search-engine optimisation. Several years ago, web developers found they could boost search-engine results for their clients by stuffing their web pages with all sorts of popular keywords and phrases, many of which bore no relationship to the actual content. Now Google, Yahoo! and others are wise to such marketing gambits, the riggers have started stuffing a web page’s metatags (hidden attributes of a web page that describe its content) with words that score highly on search engines. As a further refinement, they bury phoney keywords in the web page’s actual programming where they cannot be filtered out but can still boost the page’s ranking. Such tricks are now being adopted widely by cybercriminals. EDIT: It gets even better: How do you protect yourself? It is difficult to say. But there are a few obvious things you can do to practice safe surfing. First, never click on links to unfamiliar websites—especially those that promise unbelievable deals. If you must visit them, type the web address manually into the browser’s address bar yourself. What? How does that help? Are spammers infecting Google now so that the URL listed isn't the one that the link goes to? :) Second, know the retailer. Even if an unfamiliar site looks legitimate, if the company appears to be based in America or Canada, check it out on Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) before visiting it. Umm...how am I supposed to know if it looks legitimate before I visit it? Journalists who write from the economist should have to consult a security expert before publishing stuff like this.