Editing Spamdexing (section)

==Overview==
Search engines use a variety of [[algorithm]]s to determine relevancy [[ranking (information retrieval)|ranking]]. Some of these include determining whether the search term appears in the [[body text]] or [[Uniform Resource Locator|URL]] of a [[web page]]. Many search engines check for instances of spamdexing and will remove suspect pages from their indexes. Also, search-engine operators can quickly block the results listing from entire websites that use spamdexing, perhaps in response to user complaints of false matches. The rise of spamdexing in the mid-1990s made the leading search engines of the time less useful. Using unethical methods to make websites rank higher in search engine results than they otherwise would is commonly referred to in the SEO (search engine optimization) industry as "black-hat SEO".<ref>{{Cite web |title=SEO basics: what is black hat SEO? |url=https://www.ionos.com/digitalguide/online-marketing/search-engine-marketing/how-does-black-hat-seo-work/ |access-date=2022-08-22 |website=IONOS Digitalguide |date=23 May 2017 |language=en}}</ref> These methods are more focused on breaking the search-engine-promotion rules and guidelines. In addition to this, the perpetrators run the risk of their websites being severely penalized by the [[Google Panda]] and [[Google Penguin]] search-results ranking algorithms.<ref>{{cite news |first=Ann |last=Smarty |title=What Is BlackHat SEO? 5 Definitions |url=http://www.searchenginejournal.com/what-is-blackhat-seo-5-definitions/8151/ |work=Search Engine Journal |date=2008-12-17 |access-date=2012-07-05 |archive-date=2012-06-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120621070839/http://www.searchenginejournal.com/what-is-blackhat-seo-5-definitions/8151/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

Common spamdexing techniques can be classified into two broad classes: ''content spam''<ref name="Ntoulas"/> (''term spam'') and ''link spam''.<ref name=Gyongyi/>