Posted on 08/01/2009 7:31:41 AM PDT by Marty62
TEXAS GOVERNOR'S RACE
Hutchison campaign cuts ties with 'hidden phrases' firm By W. Gardner Selby
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, August 01, 2009
A day after defending hidden phrases placed on a campaign Web site, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's gubernatorial campaign severed ties Friday to the consulting firm credited with the "hidden phrases" strategy and removed the 2,200-plus phrases.
"This whole story about computer-generated source code is a distraction," her spokesman, Jeff Sadosky, said. "In order to once and for all put this issue to rest, we have decided to part ways with the firm responsible."
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A representative of the firm, ElectionMall Technologies, based in Washington, D.C., declined to comment.
On Thursday, after the American-Statesman asked about the phrases, viewable only by unearthing the site's source code, Hutchison's campaign removed one phrase—"rick perry gay"— which had appeared twice.
Aides said all the phrases were computer-generated based on terms that computer users searched for who also searched under Rick Perry, Kay Bailey Hutchison or Texas or a combination of the phrases. They said the many phrases were appropriately intended to help target online banner advertising for Hutchison.
Several Internet experts said the placement of hidden text amounted to black-hat tactics generally looked down upon and in violation of Google's quality guidelines for sites.
Earlier Friday, GOP Gov. Rick Perry's campaign said that because of the phrases, the www.standbykay.com site had been blocked from recognition by the Google and Yahoo search engines.
"This is remarkable third-party validation that Sen. Hutchison is taking the low road," spokesman Mark Miner said. "We look forward to the senator breaking her embarrassed silence with an apology" to Perry.
The head of Google's webspam team, Matt Cutts, responded Thursday via Twitter to an Austin man's inquiry about the site's hidden phrases.
According to his Twitter post, later confirmed by a Google spokesman, Cutts said Google had removed the site from its index and tried to contact the firm maintaining the site to explain that the hidden text was the cause for the removal.
wgselby@statesman.com; 445-3644
She has become a RINO and is too Washington DC culture to lead Texas.
Hmm. very interesting. I have sometimes wondered why google took me to a site where the phrase I was searching for didn’t exist.
Could be the site was changed. Could be it was a “hidden phrase”?
Next time it happens, I might try viewing the source to see if it’s there.
This could simply be a way to draw more hits to a website, as well as a political device.
.............and she’s from Dallas..... In Texas, that might as well be NYC....
I am beginning to think checking source should be standard procedure
Freepmail me or ping me from the original thread to get on/off the 2010 Texas Governor's Race ping list.
No...that would be Austin.
KBH is the ‘Susan Collins of Texas’ and would be the ‘Kathleen Blanco of Texas’ if she is elected governor.
No thanks.
I'm sorry, what?
The tactic is a little sleazy. it's possible that they have a web bot that pulls up recent Google searches and adds them to the web page. If this is the case, it's possible that derogatory phrases about Perry could be accidentally embedded in her web site.
Well, as soon as I saw this article, I realized how it could be done. Very simple. But I hadn’t realized it was being done. I guess I missed something that all the geeks thought was too obvious to mention.
.............and she’s from Dallas..... In Texas, that might as well be NYC....
What would Austin be?....... LA or SF. maybe?
No, Austin would be San Francisco.
In the past it's been abused by people claiming sites have malicious code, etc., when their problem with the site was the political content. Sites opposing homosexuality have been targeted a lot.
Dallas would be NYC and Austin would be Berkeley, CA.
Add me to the 2010 Texas Governor’s Race ping list, please.
Where ever you find the seat of political power, tax dollars, and special interests, there you'll find liberals ready to suck at the govt tit.
It's been that way for over 150 years. According to Shelby Foot, Lincoln, shortly after getting elected, was interrupted by a reporter when walking down the street in DC. He'd been having to deal with all the supporters that got him elected, asking for various favors and political appointments. He obviously looked tired and perplexed. When the reporter asked what was wrong his simple response was "Too many pigs for the tits".
It is. It’s a method of generating a bunch of extra hits from people that (no offense) don’t recognize that the site they’re about to click has nothing to do with their search. Another method is automatic generation of site titles, which is why again sometimes you’ll get to a site that’s covered in nothing but advertisements but the “title” of the page matched your search exactly.
It’s typical crap advertising intended to prey on the ignorant.
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