Some years ago, redirect techniques were used to fool search engines. For example, one page could show popular search terms to search engines but redirect the visitors to a different target page. There are also cases where redirects have been used to "steal" the page rank of one popular page and use it for a different page, usually involving the 302 HTTP status code of "moved temporarily."
Search engine providers noticed the problem and took appropriate actions [citation needed]. Usually, sites that employ such techniques to manipulate search engines are punished automatically by reducing their ranking or by excluding them from the search index.
As a result, today, such manipulations usually result in less rather than more site exposure.
Satire and criticism
In the same way that a Google bomb can be used for satire and political criticism, a domain name that conveys one meaning can be redirected to any other web page, sometimes with malicious intent. The website shadyurl.com offers a satirical service that will create an apparently "suspicious and frightening" redirection URL for even benign webpages.
Manipulating visitors
URL redirection is sometimes used as a part of phishing attacks that confuse visitors about which web site they are visiting [citation needed]. However, because modern browsers always show the real URL in the address bar, the threat is lessened. However, redirects can also take you to sites that will otherwise attempt to attack in other ways. For example, a redirect might take a user to a site that would attempt to trick them into downloading antivirus software and ironically installing a trojan of some sort instead.
Techniques
There are several techniques to implement a redirect. In many cases, Refresh meta tag is the simplest one. However, there exist several strong opinions discouraging this method.
Manual redirect
The simplest technique is to ask the visitor to follow a link to the new page, usually using an HTML anchor as such:
Search engine providers noticed the problem and took appropriate actions [citation needed]. Usually, sites that employ such techniques to manipulate search engines are punished automatically by reducing their ranking or by excluding them from the search index.
As a result, today, such manipulations usually result in less rather than more site exposure.
Satire and criticism
In the same way that a Google bomb can be used for satire and political criticism, a domain name that conveys one meaning can be redirected to any other web page, sometimes with malicious intent. The website shadyurl.com offers a satirical service that will create an apparently "suspicious and frightening" redirection URL for even benign webpages.
Manipulating visitors
URL redirection is sometimes used as a part of phishing attacks that confuse visitors about which web site they are visiting [citation needed]. However, because modern browsers always show the real URL in the address bar, the threat is lessened. However, redirects can also take you to sites that will otherwise attempt to attack in other ways. For example, a redirect might take a user to a site that would attempt to trick them into downloading antivirus software and ironically installing a trojan of some sort instead.
Techniques
There are several techniques to implement a redirect. In many cases, Refresh meta tag is the simplest one. However, there exist several strong opinions discouraging this method.
Manual redirect
The simplest technique is to ask the visitor to follow a link to the new page, usually using an HTML anchor as such: