Ethical Search Engine Optimisation
Today when I was on my way home I saw two small kids with a spanner near one older car. They were probably trying to do something with the left front wheel. One of them spotted me and gave a signal to the second one to stop. It was too late…
Imagine your web site as an object controlled by such kids. They are playing, playing and hoping for a miracle. One day someone walks around and they’re caught. How unfortunate… Traffic from Google becomes zero, you don’t even rank for your own domain name and everything looks pessimistic. As days go by, you’re not able to determine what went wrong. Sometimes you get a hit from Yahoo or MSN, but those old good days are irretrievably lost.
In order to avoid this scenario, you should follow these tips:
- Never allow anyone to install “free directories” on your site. These directories are usually links farms (links machines) with thousands of outgoing links. The idea behind such strategy is not bad, but you never know who’s listed in such “directory” and you can’t control it’s content. The directory’s provider could add hidden links, hidden text, cloaking pages there and so on. In addition, adding 2000-3000 pages and approximately 20000 – 40000 outgoing links overnight will convict you from becoming a link farm.
- Never place a list of “related keywords” on your pages. This strategy works perfectly, but once you’re caught, no-one will save you. Sometimes it is possible to use related keywords on your site, but it must comply with content and must be a natural part of your web site especially usable for your visitors.
- Never allow anyone to access your content management system’s admin area. So-called SEO’s could install cloaking scripts there, may use hidden text or hidden links.
In addition, it is recommended to test the company which provides you with their SEO services before you give them a project on your primary business. Let them show you their skills on a small project with low competitive phrases and then you can decide for further cooperation. The feedback or references shouldn’t be considered as the one and the last material which you’re going to use for a selection.
Once the company or an individual proves to be reliable, you can start trusting them. A company which does ethical search engine optimisation will never use one of following techniques:
- Hidden text or links
- Doorway pages
- Mirror sites
- Irrelevant keywords lists, keyword stuffing in general
- Installation of links machines on your site
- Buying links
- Spamming on forums or blogs
- Automated directories submission software
- Guaranteeing the results
- Redirecting the Googlebot to other content than visitors can see, this is called pages cloaking
- Sending emails to thousands of recipients in order to fictitiously increase your traffic