http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1755 Thu, 13 Aug 2026 21:51:25 GMT 2026-08-13T21:51:25Z http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1460 Title: Ethical issues on content distribution to digital consumers via paid placement as opposed to website visibility in search engine results Authors: Weideman, Melius Abstract: The objective of this research project was to investigate and report on the ethical issues surrounding digital content distribution via search engine results. For the purposes of this project the traditional definition of digital content distribution is widened to include search engine results. The large existing Internet user base has created an immense potential for financial gain through marketing. Many authors stated that there is strong commercial motivation for ensuring that web pages appear high up in search engine results. At the same time, recent developments in the search engine world have driven marketers to find alternative funding sources. Paid placement refers to a customer paying a fee to the search engine company to ensure that the website involved is guaranteed listings on customer screens. Paid inclusion is an alternative which only assures the paying client that the relevant website will be included in the database, but not necessarily that it will appear in the listings. The literature has also shown that a number of questionable methods exist to increase website ranking. Some technical ones include paid inclusion and meta rag usage. Methods with an ethical bearing include paid placement, the use of link farms, cloaking, keyword stuffing, and creation of doorway pages. The findings of a set of experimental searches have left the impression that all is ethically not well in terms of content delivery to the consumer. It seems that unsolicited propaganda could overshadow true and valuable content in some search engine result pages. It is also possible that some website owners are employing technically superior techniques to achieve high rankings in search engine results. In conclusion it is believed that the level of commercial competition for website ranking will probably increase. Payment for casual information searching is a potential development which could decrease user frustration by increasing information quality of Internet websites. Description: PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Challenges for the Citizen of the Information Society ETHICOMP 2004 University of the Aegean Syros, Greece 14 to 16 April2.004 Thu, 01 Jan 2004 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1460 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1459 Title: Search Engine Information Retrieval: Empirical research on the usage of the Meta Tags to enhance Web Site Visibility and Ranking of e-Commerce Web Sites Authors: Kritzinger, WT; Weideman, Melius Abstract: The principal objective of this research project was to determine the extent to which e-Commerce websites make use of metadata to enhance website visibility to search engines. The methods employed were to firstly identify a number of e-Commerce websites, and secondly to inspect, record, and analyze the relevant meta tags used in its coding. A subset of 200 e-Commerce websites was compiled by extensive Internet searching using standard search engines and portals. Each site was evaluated to confirm its qualification as an e-Commerce site, and its three visibility-related HTML meta tags were inspected. The results prove that a reasonable percentage of e-Commerce web pages make use of the three meta tags in question, but none make use of Dublin Core. An average score of 66.83% was earned overall. The primary conclusion reached is that initially meta tag usage appears to be reasonably high, considering figures of 60% and above. However, if the percentages of the non-users are extrapolated across the size of the WWW, while assuming that not all web pages are e-Commerce based, a large number of web pages are not availing themselves of one of the most basic visibility features. Description: The 7th World Multiconference on Systemics, Cybernetics_ and Informatics July 27 - 30, 2003 Orlando, Florida - USA PROCEEDINGS Volume VI Information Systems, Technologies and Applications: I Tue, 01 Jul 2003 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1459 2003-07-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1456 Title: Application of best practice towards improving web site visibility to search engines: a pilot study Authors: Chambers, Rickard; Weideman, Melius Abstract: Many hours can be spent on creating a Web site before finally introducing it to the world. The content could be informative and presented logically. The design could be outstanding and the user interface functional. Even the unique customers, purpose of the site, simple navigational strategies and all the essential aspects of Web design could have been considered during implementation. In many developers' eyes, such a Web page could be seen as flawless. The hard reality, though, is that a well-designed site will not be successful if the potential customers cannot find the site. Often a developer submits Web pages to the search engines and then wants to move on to other work, under the impression that the task is complete. In most cases, however, the developer's responsibility should also include constantly improving the visibility (ability to be seen or capability of being readily noticed or referred to) of the Web site by having the pages indexed and ranked high in the search engines, and to keep them there. Exceptions include those cases where it is not crucial that a Web site be visible (e.g. personal Web pages, pages where paid methods are used to achieve high rankings, etc). This way, the developer assures constant Web site visibility that, in turn, should generate constant traffic to the Web site. Description: Peer Reviewed Article Thu, 01 Dec 2005 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1456 2005-12-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1455 Title: Empirical Study on Crawler Visibility of PDF Documents in Digital Libraries Authors: Weideman, Melius Abstract: Digital library users might not enter a digital library through homepage menus. As a result, digital library owners should consider the visibility to search engines of stored PDF documents. The aim of this research project was to determine to what extent the visibility of these PDF documents can be improved. In a series of empirical experiments, 100 PDF documents stored on digital libraries were identified an inspected. Searches were done for them and rankings on search engine result pages recorded. The current visibility of these documents was then calculated. After submission to Google, a waiting period was allowed for crawler visitation and the searches repeated. The results of these experiments proved that the visibility of these documents could be improved only marginally. It is therefore concluded that the designers of university digital libraries should consider other alternatives, such as providing text extracts of PDF documents, to enhance the overall visibility of content. Keywords-digital Description: Proceedings 2010 3rd IEEE International Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology July 710, 2010 Chengdu, China Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:00:00 GMT http://hdl.handle.net/11189/1455 2010-07-01T00:00:00Z