When you
build your website, you, of course, want to get high rankings in the search
engines. There are lots of ways to do
this and lots of ways to NOT do this.
Below are 10 things to avoid if you want to be in good standing with the
search engines.
1. Duplicate
Content/Sites – Do not set up multiple sites or site pages using basically the
same content with a few different keywords spread around. This does not fool the search
engines.
2. Cloaking – Cloaking is when a website or
webpage is set up to show different content for a search engine spider than the
human visitors. The cloaked page (for
the spiders) is stuffed with keywords in an attempt to get higher rankings. What it can get you is
banned!
3. Linking to Bad Neighborhoods – Be careful who
you link to because you can be found guilty by association. Do not link to adult sites, gambling sites
or link farms. Also be careful not to
link to sites that use any of the SEO methods mentioned
here.
4. Title Stacking – This is simply trying to
give each page more than one title tag so you can use more keywords to get
higher rankings. The search engines
consider this a dirty little trick.
5. Doorway Pages – Doorway or gateway pages are
pages that are set-up for one keyword topic but then they take you to different
content. These pages usually have
little value in the way of content and have little to do with the rest of the
site. They are used solely to try to get
a higher rank in the search engines.
6. Redirect Pages – Redirect pages are set up to
rank high in the search engines but when you click on the page, it will take you
to another page which is usually a sales page for a product or service. So, what you see isn’t what you
get!
7. Automated Submission Services - Do not use
automated submission services. They are
against Google’s TOS and can get you banned.
8. Hidden Links – This is when a link is added
to a page in such a small size that it cannot be seen by human visitors but can
be picked up by the search engine spiders.
This might work for a time but when the search engines discover it, you
will be penalized!
9. Keyword Stuffing – Keyword stuffing or
spamming is simply being too repetitive with your keywords as to the extent of
your content not being sensible. For
example if your keywords are cat food and your text reads something like
this: When your cat gets hungry be sure to feed
them this cat food because your cat will like this cat food. This cat food comes in an easy to open cat
food can and contains fish, chicken and healthy ingredients that all cat food
should have. So, when your cat is hungry
for cat food, give them this cat food because this cat food is the best cat food
for your cat!
You can easily see why this kind of keyword stuffing should not be used.
10. Invisible Text – This is when you hide text
by using the same color text and background.
The invisible text is meant for
the search engines only and not for visitors. This is done so you can stuff a lot more
keywords on your page without wrecking your content. The search engines will discover this and
they will penalize you!
Be careful not to
use these Black Hat SEO methods because it could cause you a lot of trouble with
the search engines. Be careful as well,
who you hire to work on your site because some of these things can be done
without your knowledge and cause your site to get banned or penalized.
A few things you should do to get
higher rankings are:
1. Research keywords and use relevant keywords on your web pages and in your page title.
2. Add new content to your site regularly
3. Link with relevant, quality sites
4. Use a site map
5. Don’t use a lot of javascript or flash. The search engines do not read
these.
Following all of the above can keep you from getting banned and
improve your rankings!