Today's post is about web sites that mislead customers and search engines deliberately. They manipulate copy and search terms that are not relevant to a company's web site simply to attract a higher Yahoo or Google search ranking.
In the commercial chocolate fountain business, American Made seems to be a favorite for sleazy web site marketing.

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Any time a company has to resort to misrepresentation, whether hidden or visible, it is time for the customer to beware.

When you do a search for a product or service on the internet, the search engines do their best to return relevant results. At the top of the list should be web sites that actually fit the request that was made. That is not always the case when a web site uses sleazy spaming tactics to try and rank higher for terms that they don't really qualify for, but desire because their competitor ranks legitimately for those words.
Take, for instance a trademark name or where an item is manufactured.

Chocolatefonduefountains.com sells chocolate fountains really made in the USA. The are manufactured by Buffet Enhancements International, Inc. a real American manufacturer with real manufacturing facilities on the Alabama Gulf Coast. It is also notable that Buffet Enhancements has been producing fountains and food display equipment for the commercial food service industry for more than 18 years.
Do a search on Yahoo or Google for any of the terms I've mentioned and you should see those companies (Buffet Enhancements or Chocolate Fondue Fountains) turn up near the top in most cases because the terms are honest and legitimate.

Now take a look at the competition who also place near or at the top for chocolate fountain sales. When you go to their web site, read some of the hidden text (called alt tags) that shows up when you mouse and pause over their images.
What you will see is spam. Multiple use of words like "Buffet Enhancements", "American Made" and "Fountains". Read some of the page one copy and you will see the same thing. Open that page in "source code view" and it's spam-a-riffic.
What makes it spam is the company does not sell American made chocolate fountains, nor do they have any association with the trademark name they are trying to profit from.

Here is my question.
Why would a company want to get your attention so desperately, they would resort to deception?
Do they not have enough faith in the strength of their own offerings?
Or maybe they have so little respect for the consumer they think they can be easily deceived?