Sometimes the mind just boggles when you’re doing some competitive research. The more you look at some backlinks the more it doesn’t make sense. Today while doing some backlink analysis for a large power generating and distribution company in the UK I took an interest in the backlinks generated to uSwitch.

High up in site explorer backlink set for uSwicth and in third position appears the Financial Times, http://www.ft.com. So at this point my interest is piqued. Why would the homepage for the Financial Times link to uSwitch?

Exploring the code of the Financial Times

Stage One : Explore the code

Have a quick look at the source code and a search for ‘uswitch’ takes me down to a sub-navigation panel:

<div class=”accessibility”> </div>
<hr />
“Compare & apply” sub navigation
<ul class=”lhn sub expanded” id=”k204b0_sub”>
<li><a href=”http://www.ft.com/yourmoney/compare”>
Compare & apply main</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.moneysupermarket.com/ftym/cards/creditcardsform.asp?ftH=100″>
Credit cards</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.moneysupermarket.com/ftym/loans/personalloansassessment.asp?ftH=100″>
Loans</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.moneysupermarket.com/ftym/currentaccounts/?ftH=80″>
Current accounts</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.moneysupermarket.com/ftym/savings/?ftH=150″>
Saving accounts</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.moneysupermarket.com/link.asp?Source=FT&Section=TravelInsurance”>
Travel insurance</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.ft.com/yourmoney/compare/mortgages”>
Mortgages</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.ft.com/yourmoney/compare/gas”>
Gas & electricity</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.moneysupermarket.com/ftym/shares/CompareSharesForm.asp?ftH=90″>S
hare dealing</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.ft.com/yourmoney/compare/lifeassurance”>
Life assurance</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.moneysupermarket.com/link.asp?Source=FT&section=broadband”>
Broadband suppliers</a></li>
<li><a href=”http://www.uswitch.com/home-phone/index.asp?ref=ftym” class=”lastitem”>
Telephone suppliers</a></li>
</ul>

Yep the link to uSwitch is there – and there are a couple to moneysupermarket.com too, but I can’t see them on screen?

Stage Two : Locate the Link onscreen

So quick start and search the page with both the google toolbar and the firfox search function for the words ‘telephone suppliers’. Hmm still no visibility.

This means it’s got to be ‘hidden’ somewhere. Switch off the CSS and there’e the link in a sub navigation section of a sub navigation section.

So through hovering on the left nav I eventually find it. The link isn’t hidden – it’s more obfuscated. It may not be a truly ‘Unethical SEO’ example but its starting to push the boundaries.

At this stage I’m getting a bit annoyed by the Financial Times. If this was a normal rubbish little site my first thought would be that they were at it – more than likely selling links. Which everyone knows is a wee hatred of Googles at present.

Stage Three : Do a little Googling

Quick Google search for ‘uswitch link ft.com’ – I want to know who else has been talking about this stuff and it turns out through E-Consultancy and Linking Matters that they used to not even have the link displaying so at least the Financial Times are starting to be less duplicitous and more honest with displaying links than they were previously.

What should the Financial Times do?

Well to be honest stop it. Selling and obfuscating links can be dangerous to your site, and there is no reason that the Financial Times has to participate in these systems.

If they cant get out of it, and these links are only for the purpose of users and are in no way intended to be used by search engines, stick the NoFollow attribute onto the links.