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20 Bad SEO Methods To Avoid
Vasili first provided his PDF on his Choice Pro SEO website, and I thought it valuable enough to make a Sticky out of it so everyone can benefit .... feel free to download it to print out for future reference!
This explains 20 techniques everyone should avoid in Search Engine Optimization methods.
20 BLACK HAT SEO METHODS TO AVOID
Listed Alphabetically, Not Order Of Importance: Each Is Important And May Prove Critical!
• ASTROTURFING This is when a false public relations campaign or fake social media in the blogosphere generate increased attention to a site, blog, or wiki.
• BUYING EXPIRED DOMAINS Domains that have expired can carry a large Page Rank. By purchasing the domain, throwing up repetitive content, and linking to your other web sites and domains, you may be able to use “link juice” to distribute the page rank to those other sites.
• CLOAKING Cloaking is when a site is designed to show one set of content to your users, while showing a completely different set of content to crawlers, robots, and spiders. This is considered misrepresenting your content.
• CONTENT SPAMMING This method is implemented by leaving comments on sites with high Page Ranks. These comments can be in the form of blog comments, guestbook entries, forum submissions, wiki pages, etc. The comments are filled with high density keywords, and have links back to the spamming site.
• DOORWAY PAGES A doorway page is a “fake” page that the user will never see. It is purely for search engine spiders, and attempts to trick them into indexing the site higher. This method is dependent on useragent sniffing.
• FAKE ID/IMPERSONATORS: CEO, CELEBRITY, EXPERTS, REVIEWERS This is when a blogger or forums User registers as if they are a person if significance, i.e. a CEO, Celebrity, "Expert," or even a validated 'Reviewer' (as commonly seen on Yelp.com). These people leave damaging messages that can sway a user in a specific direction about a product or service. This can swing the other way. A Celebrity or high level executive can act as an anonymous user to leave disparaging remarks about another person, company, or product, drive traffic to their site, and ultimately increase sales.
• GOOGLE BOMBING This is accomplished by creating links on multiple sites linking to the same page with the same text. The text link may not necessarily be relevant to the linked site, thus creating the Google Bomb. The most common Google Bomb can be seen by searching "miserable failure" and seeing sites for George Bush appear at the top of the results page.
• GOOGLE BOWLING Google is penalizing (or even banning) sites that purchase site-wide links. A site-wide link is a link that is on every page of the entire site. Google Bowling is buying sitewide links as a competitor to get them banned.
• INTERLINKING When multiple web sites are built by the same person or company, with similar content, with links pointing back and forth between them, in an attempt to increase each others' page ranks. This applies particularly to a single hosting account with multiple Add-On or Sub-Domains within them that although are not individually violating Duplicate Content Rules, but are linked to each other in false hopes to expand exposure to traffic or to create an artificial relevance. The fact that the domains or site structures share a single IP is enough for all of the domains to be flagged and penalized.
• INVISIBLE or HIDDEN TEXT This Black Hat method manifests itself in many forms. One example of this method would be to put lists of keywords in white text on a white background in hopes of attracting more search engine spiders, or something similar (the Rule is any searchable/readable text must be at least 50% contrasting to the background, and no smaller than 8 pica to not fall under suspicion - especially footer or text hyperlinks). Another method is to embed and overload keywords into unseen places that crawlers look will get you banned as well. Places like alt tags, comments, JavaScript tags, noframe tags, div tags that are hidden, etc. A valid contrasting and properly sized Text or Textlink might also be flagged under the Hidden Text Rule if it is not created using a Web-Safe Font, as it conflicts with Spider, Bots, and even Browsers these days.
• KEYWORD STUFFING This is when you fill your page with long lists of keywords in an attempt to rank higher for those words. You don't view this as high quality content, and neither will Google. This method is typically accompanied with the Hidden Text and Redirecting Black Hat methods. As a matter of fact, as of October 2008 Google has reduced the SE values of Key Words drastically and re-emphasized H-META Tags and overall Relevance of actual properly composed Content as evidenced by the Build (mirrored natural wording in content/links/page names/image titles etc.)! All Key Words must be anchored in naturally composed organic Content and be part of obvious Site Construct (Page names, Navigation, H-META, etc.) in order to demonstrate the framework of actual Relevance, the most important aspect of SE focus. Also, it is important to never exceed the allowed number of Key Words in any applicable manner, including those used in phrases.
• LINK FARMING Another name for a link farm is a free-for-all site. The objective of these sites is strictly to generate inbound links to your site at any cost. This will typically work in the short term, but hurt your site (or get it banned) long-term. These kinds of sites are also known as ‘mutual admiration societies’ and other names, but the practice is uniformly penalized.
• REDIRECTING Redirects are commonly used along with doorway pages, or spam pages filled with advertising. They are designed to take a user to a page that they did not want to go to. These can be both server -side redirects, or client -side redirects. Vicious redirect pages often get the user into an infinite loop that IS difficult to break from.
• SCR APER SITES Also known as Made-for-AdSense Sites, these pages are similar to spam pages, except that they are designed to scr ape search engine results and dynamically "create" content pages. These may also be used in conjunction with malevolent software utilities (malware) that records any identifiable User Data from unsuspecting visitors.
• SELLING PAGE RANK Sites can explicitly sell "advertising" (read inbound links) to your site. This essentially distributes some of the Page Rank to the newly linked site, and its position in search engine results pages. This has been in the news a lot lately. Google has dropped the Page Rank of anyone doing this. Both the buyer and seller of the link are dropped in Page Rank. This is also called 'squeezing juice' and will result in negative results in every case or manner.
• SPLOGS: SHILL BLOGS, SPAM BLOGS Spam Blogs are when one person is paid to act as a fan for those who hired them. Generating a source of positive feedback and link sharing will increase inbound traffic and Page Rank. These methods are similar in effect to a link farm.
• SPAM PAGES Spam Pages are web pages that rank well for specific keywords, but actually hold no content. They are typically full of advertisements, listings to other sites, or are part of a pay-per-click scam.
• SYBIL ATTACKS When a single user creates multiple identities to generate additional traffic. This could be in the form of multiple web sites with similar, if not identical, content. This could be in the form of multiple social bookmark accounts, multiple comments, etc.
• WIKI SPAM Wikis, just like blogs, are intended to be an easy way to create and organize content for non-developers (read anyone). But the distributed and open ‘editability’ of wikis make them susceptible to spamming. By placing links in wikis back to the spam site, you hijack the link juice of the wiki, pass the page rank on, and increase results frequency. The subject of the wiki page is typically irrelevant. This is why large wikis like wikipedia have added the nofollow attribute to all of their links.
THE PENALTIES FOR USING ANY OF THESE METHODS OR DERIVATIVES ARE PROFOUNDLY SERIOUS AND USUALLY RESULT IN PERMANENT SANCTIONS FOR THE DOMAIN TO WHICH THEY ARE APPLIED!
BLACK HAT SEO: 20 METHODS TO AVOID
COPYRIGHT © 2003-2012 CHOICE PRO SEO • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
(USA #32-1184299ewe) • Copyright Monitoring By CopyScape.com
Karen
This explains 20 techniques everyone should avoid in Search Engine Optimization methods.
20 BLACK HAT SEO METHODS TO AVOID
Listed Alphabetically, Not Order Of Importance: Each Is Important And May Prove Critical!
• ASTROTURFING This is when a false public relations campaign or fake social media in the blogosphere generate increased attention to a site, blog, or wiki.
• BUYING EXPIRED DOMAINS Domains that have expired can carry a large Page Rank. By purchasing the domain, throwing up repetitive content, and linking to your other web sites and domains, you may be able to use “link juice” to distribute the page rank to those other sites.
• CLOAKING Cloaking is when a site is designed to show one set of content to your users, while showing a completely different set of content to crawlers, robots, and spiders. This is considered misrepresenting your content.
• CONTENT SPAMMING This method is implemented by leaving comments on sites with high Page Ranks. These comments can be in the form of blog comments, guestbook entries, forum submissions, wiki pages, etc. The comments are filled with high density keywords, and have links back to the spamming site.
• DOORWAY PAGES A doorway page is a “fake” page that the user will never see. It is purely for search engine spiders, and attempts to trick them into indexing the site higher. This method is dependent on useragent sniffing.
• FAKE ID/IMPERSONATORS: CEO, CELEBRITY, EXPERTS, REVIEWERS This is when a blogger or forums User registers as if they are a person if significance, i.e. a CEO, Celebrity, "Expert," or even a validated 'Reviewer' (as commonly seen on Yelp.com). These people leave damaging messages that can sway a user in a specific direction about a product or service. This can swing the other way. A Celebrity or high level executive can act as an anonymous user to leave disparaging remarks about another person, company, or product, drive traffic to their site, and ultimately increase sales.
• GOOGLE BOMBING This is accomplished by creating links on multiple sites linking to the same page with the same text. The text link may not necessarily be relevant to the linked site, thus creating the Google Bomb. The most common Google Bomb can be seen by searching "miserable failure" and seeing sites for George Bush appear at the top of the results page.
• GOOGLE BOWLING Google is penalizing (or even banning) sites that purchase site-wide links. A site-wide link is a link that is on every page of the entire site. Google Bowling is buying sitewide links as a competitor to get them banned.
• INTERLINKING When multiple web sites are built by the same person or company, with similar content, with links pointing back and forth between them, in an attempt to increase each others' page ranks. This applies particularly to a single hosting account with multiple Add-On or Sub-Domains within them that although are not individually violating Duplicate Content Rules, but are linked to each other in false hopes to expand exposure to traffic or to create an artificial relevance. The fact that the domains or site structures share a single IP is enough for all of the domains to be flagged and penalized.
• INVISIBLE or HIDDEN TEXT This Black Hat method manifests itself in many forms. One example of this method would be to put lists of keywords in white text on a white background in hopes of attracting more search engine spiders, or something similar (the Rule is any searchable/readable text must be at least 50% contrasting to the background, and no smaller than 8 pica to not fall under suspicion - especially footer or text hyperlinks). Another method is to embed and overload keywords into unseen places that crawlers look will get you banned as well. Places like alt tags, comments, JavaScript tags, noframe tags, div tags that are hidden, etc. A valid contrasting and properly sized Text or Textlink might also be flagged under the Hidden Text Rule if it is not created using a Web-Safe Font, as it conflicts with Spider, Bots, and even Browsers these days.
• KEYWORD STUFFING This is when you fill your page with long lists of keywords in an attempt to rank higher for those words. You don't view this as high quality content, and neither will Google. This method is typically accompanied with the Hidden Text and Redirecting Black Hat methods. As a matter of fact, as of October 2008 Google has reduced the SE values of Key Words drastically and re-emphasized H-META Tags and overall Relevance of actual properly composed Content as evidenced by the Build (mirrored natural wording in content/links/page names/image titles etc.)! All Key Words must be anchored in naturally composed organic Content and be part of obvious Site Construct (Page names, Navigation, H-META, etc.) in order to demonstrate the framework of actual Relevance, the most important aspect of SE focus. Also, it is important to never exceed the allowed number of Key Words in any applicable manner, including those used in phrases.
• LINK FARMING Another name for a link farm is a free-for-all site. The objective of these sites is strictly to generate inbound links to your site at any cost. This will typically work in the short term, but hurt your site (or get it banned) long-term. These kinds of sites are also known as ‘mutual admiration societies’ and other names, but the practice is uniformly penalized.
• REDIRECTING Redirects are commonly used along with doorway pages, or spam pages filled with advertising. They are designed to take a user to a page that they did not want to go to. These can be both server -side redirects, or client -side redirects. Vicious redirect pages often get the user into an infinite loop that IS difficult to break from.
• SCR APER SITES Also known as Made-for-AdSense Sites, these pages are similar to spam pages, except that they are designed to scr ape search engine results and dynamically "create" content pages. These may also be used in conjunction with malevolent software utilities (malware) that records any identifiable User Data from unsuspecting visitors.
• SELLING PAGE RANK Sites can explicitly sell "advertising" (read inbound links) to your site. This essentially distributes some of the Page Rank to the newly linked site, and its position in search engine results pages. This has been in the news a lot lately. Google has dropped the Page Rank of anyone doing this. Both the buyer and seller of the link are dropped in Page Rank. This is also called 'squeezing juice' and will result in negative results in every case or manner.
• SPLOGS: SHILL BLOGS, SPAM BLOGS Spam Blogs are when one person is paid to act as a fan for those who hired them. Generating a source of positive feedback and link sharing will increase inbound traffic and Page Rank. These methods are similar in effect to a link farm.
• SPAM PAGES Spam Pages are web pages that rank well for specific keywords, but actually hold no content. They are typically full of advertisements, listings to other sites, or are part of a pay-per-click scam.
• SYBIL ATTACKS When a single user creates multiple identities to generate additional traffic. This could be in the form of multiple web sites with similar, if not identical, content. This could be in the form of multiple social bookmark accounts, multiple comments, etc.
• WIKI SPAM Wikis, just like blogs, are intended to be an easy way to create and organize content for non-developers (read anyone). But the distributed and open ‘editability’ of wikis make them susceptible to spamming. By placing links in wikis back to the spam site, you hijack the link juice of the wiki, pass the page rank on, and increase results frequency. The subject of the wiki page is typically irrelevant. This is why large wikis like wikipedia have added the nofollow attribute to all of their links.
THE PENALTIES FOR USING ANY OF THESE METHODS OR DERIVATIVES ARE PROFOUNDLY SERIOUS AND USUALLY RESULT IN PERMANENT SANCTIONS FOR THE DOMAIN TO WHICH THEY ARE APPLIED!
BLACK HAT SEO: 20 METHODS TO AVOID
COPYRIGHT © 2003-2012 CHOICE PRO SEO • ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
(USA #32-1184299ewe) • Copyright Monitoring By CopyScape.com
Karen
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