Traffic Power was a
Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
,
Nevada
Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...
search engine optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic (known as "natural" or " organic" results) rather than dire ...
company that engaged in
black hat
Black hat, blackhats, or black-hat refers to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Black hat (computer security), a hacker who violates computer security for little reason beyond maliciousness or for personal gain
* Black hat, part of black and whit ...
techniques. These were
spamdexing practices that violated
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
's webmaster guidelines. As a result, some Traffic Power clients have been banned from Google's
organic search
In Web search engines, organic search results are the query results which are calculated strictly algorithmically, and not affected by advertiser payments. They are distinguished from various kinds of sponsored results, whether they are explicit pa ...
results.
According to a
Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
profile of the company, Traffic Power used high-risk techniques and failed to disclose those risks to its clients.
Wired
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...
reported that Traffic Power sued blogger Aaron Wall and the website Traffic Power Sucks for stating that they were banned.
Wired Magazine
''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fr ...
Legal Showdown in Search Fracas
Sep, 08, 2005, written by Adam L. Penenberg Google software engineer
Matt Cutts
Matthew Cutts (born 1972 or 1973) is an American software engineer. Cutts is the former Administrator of the United States Digital Service. He was first appointed as acting administrator, to later be confirmed as full administrator in October 20 ...
later confirmed that Google did in fact ban Traffic Power and some of its clients.
In January 2009 Traffic Power CEO Matt Marlon was jailed on accusations of fraud related to a
foreclosure scam.
[{{cite web, publisher=kvbc.com , title=Accused foreclosure scam artist behind bars , url=http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=7569200&nav=15MV , accessdate=2009-01-20 , url-status=dead , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014053832/http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=7569200&nav=15MV , archivedate=October 14, 2008 ]
References
Black hat search engine optimization
Search engine optimization companies