Don't make SEO mistakes that make your site look bad.
Lately, there has been a lot of attention given to companies that use dirty tactics to increase their Google search rank. First, it was a website for glasses that ripped people off and the more they complained about the company on other sites, the higher in the search results the company went. The man running the company laughed at customers, while raking in the money. Eventually, he laughed all the way to prison. More recently, JCPenny was caught using some underhanded tactics to increase their search results during the holiday season.
If you are creating a webpage for your employer, your job search or your small business, don't fall for any of these less than honest ways to increase traffic and raise your search result presence:
- Hiding your content – This is the biggest and most easily spotted SEO crime. This tactic is basically to change the website code so that what the search engine sees and what visitors see are two different things. If you have ever clicked a search result looking for a specific things and were taken to a site that has nothing to with what you were looking for, and doesn't have any information about the topic, then you have seen this in action.
- Getting links from brokers – This one is pretty dirty, and it is the very same one that got JCPenny in so much trouble. Basically, this method is to pay a link broker, or to participate in link exchange schemes to spread links to your site all over the web. Often these brokers use spam sites to post links pointing back to a certain company or website. This Johnny Appleseed approach to cross-linking is a violation of Google's terms of service. Google has changed their algorithm after catching JCPenny at it, and now, the tactic doesn't work.
- Duplicate content – Offering the same content on duplicate pages on the same domain can get you kicked off of the Google search results. If you have ever searched for information about a certain topic and found many results offering the exact same content, word for word, then you know what I mean. Often, the duplicate content is packed with keywords and doesn't actually contain any content that would be helpful to a human visitor.
- Keyword overload – It is never a good idea to use keywords without a purpose. Keywords help people find relevant information on a certain topic. Whether it is a Google search or a search across your website, the keywords will help the visitor filter out irrelevant information. For example, if you have a page that talks about model trains, you can use keywords like “trains, model trains, railroad hobbies, railroads, electric trains”. All of these keywords relate to the content, but filling the page up with keywords that don't relate to the content, are hidden inside photos or in odd colored fonts in order to get traffic, will get you in trouble with Google. Google say that the best guideline is to ask yourself “Is this useful to my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?”
- Using negative reviews to boost page rank – For awhile, there was a loophole in the Google algorithm. Google has always given business sites a boost if they were linked from many other, well-respected sites. But, when those links come from customers who are complaining about a company, the site still received the boost. This strategy isn't smart, and now it isn't even effective. With the new change in the algorithm, this strategy won't work.
The best way to increase your site's visibility in web searches and online is to publish original content and connect with your users. Anyone who tells you they know some great tricks to significantly boost your ratings overnight is trying to rip you off. There are some legitimate tips for formatting and presenting your content in a way that is more easily accessed by search engines and human visitors alike, but even then, real Google page rank has to be earned over time.
Source:
By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for BusinessWorkForceBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.
Become a member to take advantage of more features, like commenting and voting.
Register or sign in today!