Using an online tool called Open Site Explorer, Mr. The links do not bear any fingerprints, but nothing else about them was particularly subtle. She added, вЂњWe are working to have the links taken down.вЂќ Penney did not authorize, and we were not involved with or aware of, the posting of the links that you sent to us, as it is against our natural search policies,вЂќ Ms.

Penney, Darcie Brossart, says it was not Penney. Who is that someone? A spokeswoman for J. Someone paid to have thousands of links placed on hundreds of sites scattered around the Web, all of which lead directly to. And hereвЂ™s where the strategy that aided Penney comes in. In a way, what Google is measuring is your siteвЂ™s popularity by polling the best-informed online fans of Chinese cooking and counting their links to your site as votes of approval.Д«ut even links that have nothing to do with Chinese cooking can bolster your profile if your site is barnacled with enough of them. The more links to your site, especially those from other Chinese cooking-related sites, the higher your ranking. If you own a Web site, for instance, about Chinese cooking, your siteвЂ™s Google ranking will improve as other sites link to it. In deriving organic results, GoogleвЂ™s algorithm takes into account dozens of criteria, many of which the company will not discuss.Д«ut it has described one crucial factor in detail: links from one site to another. WeвЂ™re talking, to be clear, about the вЂњorganicвЂќ results - in other words, the ones that are not paid advertisements. Penney in the pole position for so many searches, you need to know how Web sites rise to the top of GoogleвЂ™s results. YouвЂ™d think they would have people around them that would know better.вЂќ вЂњActually, itвЂ™s the most ambitious attempt IвЂ™ve ever heard of,вЂќ he said. He described the optimization as the most ambitious attempt to game GoogleвЂ™s search results that he has ever seen. PenneyвЂ™s results were derived from methods on the wrong side of that line, says Mr. The company draws a pretty thick line between techniques it considers deceptive and вЂњwhite hatвЂќ approaches, which are offered by hundreds of consulting firms and are legitimate ways to increase a siteвЂ™s visibility. And the intrigue starts in the sprawling, subterranean world of вЂњblack hatвЂќ optimization, the dark art of raising the profile of a Web site with methods that Google considers tantamount to cheating.Дespite the cowboy outlaw connotations, black-hat services are not illegal, but trafficking in them risks the wrath of Google. What he found suggests that the digital ageвЂ™s most mundane act, the Google search, often represents layer upon layer of intrigue. The New York Times asked an expert in online search, Doug Pierce of Blue Fountain Media in New York, to study this question, as well as PenneyвЂ™s astoundingly strong search-term performance in recent months.

But GoogleвЂ™s stated goal is to sift through every corner of the Internet and find the most important, relevant Web sites.Дoes the collective wisdom of the Web really say that Penney has the most essential site when it comes to dresses? And bedding? And area rugs? And dozens of other words and phrases? With more than 1,100 stores and $17.8 billion in total revenue in 2010, Penney is certainly a major player in American retailing. Type in вЂњSamsonite carry on luggage,вЂќ for instance, and Penney for months was first on the list, ahead of. Penney even beat out the sites of manufacturers in searches for the products of those manufacturers. This striking performance lasted for months, most crucially through the holiday season, when there is a huge spike in online shopping. For months, it was consistently at or near the top in searches for вЂњskinny jeans,вЂќ вЂњhome decor,вЂќ вЂњcomforter sets,вЂќ вЂњfurnitureвЂќ and dozens of other words and phrases, from the blandly generic (вЂњtableclothsвЂќ) to the strangely specific (вЂњgrommet top curtainsвЂќ). The company bested millions of sites - and not just in searches for dresses, bedding and area rugs.

But in the last several months, one name turned up, with uncanny regularity, in the No. You could imagine a dozen contenders for each of these searches.

Wrath of the machine secrets