Getting your website found in Google may be a high priority to your business, but knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do. Some businesses enlist developers and Search Engine Optomisation (SEO) "specialists" that can use techniques that ultimately lead to their website being
blacklisted. Website owners need to know what to look for in their chosen SEO provider, to ensure their website doesn't end up without a rank.
Google is indiscriminative when it comes to blacklisting websites that use "deceptive" techniques to get their website ranking well. Just ask German car manufacturer BMW, in February 2006 they found their website suddenly had a Google rank of 0 after they used techniques that Google considered "cheating the system" to get their website ranking.
If you are investigating commissioning an SEO provider, you should be cautious of who you put in control of your website. Be skeptical of any company that approaches you out of the blue. Often these businesses are hoping to prey on your inexperience in this area and scare you into using their services (e.g. by saying that a competitor of yours is doing better than you in Search Engines).
As a rule, try only to select SEO providers that have worked with someone you know and achieved the goals they were hoping for.
You should also avoid any SEO provider that guarantees they can get your website ranked number one in Google. Often, the catch is that they can only achieve that result on an obscure keyword term, which will be of little assistance to your business.
Finally you should also ask the SEO Company to clearly explain the techniques they intend to use. If they are evasive with their answers they should be avoided. However, if you do discover the techniques they intend to implement, this will enable you to judge whether you are in danger of being blacklisted.
The following outlines some of the more common unacceptable SEO practices that you can use to assess the SEO provider you are investigating:
Hidden text and links- Some SEO companies use hidden keywords and links that are designed to increase search engine rankings. To hide this text they will often make it the same colour as the background or set the font size to zero.
Google bots have advanced over the years and will detect these settings and know that this text is designed just for them - counting as a penalty against your site.
Duplicating content/keyword stuffing- Although Google recognises that some content is duplicated for legitimate reasons, it frowns on websites that deliberately duplicated keyword phrases in an attempt to manipulate search engine rankings. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that repeating your keyword phrases again and again will bolster your website ranking.
Doorway pages- These are pages that are created with the sole purpose of ranking well for certain keywords. They often have poor content and exist solely to funnel users into the main site. It was this technique that ended up getting BMW blacklisted.
Wendy Schollum is a web strategist and managing director of Xplore - your web agency (www.xplore.net). If you would like more information on search engine marketing, follow Xplore on Twitter (www.twitter.com/xploreNET), join us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/xploreNET) or call 0800 100 900.