GPWA Times Magazine - Issue 14 - October 2010

By Paul Reilly H aving worked in and around search engine optimization for over 11 years, the one thing I can guarantee is change. In order to understand the pres- ent and future of search it helps to under- stand the past. As search engine algorithms evolve, we get a sense of direction as they give away clues. By revealing what has been fil- tered from search engine results in the past, we can predict what might happen in the future. It’s worth remembering that Google isn’t God, it’s just a system with inputs and outputs. As with any system with inputs and outputs, given expertise, tools for testing and time, Google can be under- stood and influenced. At Stickyeyes we track over 11,000 SERPs (search engine results pages) in 13 different countries, hourly; this data has enabled us to gain a very firm under- standing of how Google’s inputs relate to its outputs. This article looks at a handful of SEO tech- niques that are likely to get you banned from Google. Some of them are obvious and quite well known, others less so. When things go wrong . . . Google does not discriminate — some of the world’s most well known brands have fallen afoul of Google’s sin bin. Let’s look at what can happen if your SEO activity sends the wrong signals to Google, either directly or indirectly. An algorithm may detect a breach of Google’s webmaster guidelines. A spam report may be filed against you by a competitor. A disgruntled ex-employee may file a spam report against you. A competitor may actively sabotage your rankings by deploying unsavory tactics on your behalf. Penalty 1 – Ouch! I no longer rank for my own brand! Historically one of the worst types of penalty has been the brand-based, 60- point penalty, where not only do you no longer rank for your target keywords, but your site also now sits at the top of page 7 for your brand terms. Imagine if this were to happen to you just as you were launch- ing an integrated TV campaign. SEO experts generally agree that this kind of penalty was served following a man- ual investigation and has been replaced with a new algorithmic filter. Penalty 2 – Ouch! I was ranking #1 for “casino” but now I’m on page X! In April/May many brands began seeing what appears to be a single keyword variable position penalty. Some 1. 2. 3. 4. are referring to this as the Caffeine/May Day update. While others speculate, at Stickyeyes we like to stick to the data. In Figure A we can see volatility across a sample of keywords. The peak that oc- curs around April and May is indicative of the recent introduction of the new al- gorithmic filter (google.co.uk). During this period a number of large brands were dropped from page 1. See Figure B . Comment and forum spam Comment and forum spam can be very easily deployed on a massive scale and if done correctly can work – but only temporarily. In recent weeks I’ve seen a couple of sites doing quite well with this approach in the very short term. How- ever, one recent example was identified quickly and removed from the index, only to be replaced by another brand us- ing the same template. A “burn and churn” approach is required should you opt for this black hat tech- nique. This should never be deployed on a brand with any level of equity. This kind of spam is likely to trigger Penalty 2 — the variable position fil- ter through repetitious anchor text, al- though sophisticated spam tools allow link-automated variation to be used in the posts and anchor text. Even if the link and post text is program- matically varied, it’s likely to result in a spam report and an investigation. On in- vestigation this kind of spam is very dif- ficult to disguise to a human. TIP Expect that your domain will end up burned; make sure you randomize your link text. Buying and selling links Google states the following: “Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in vi- SEO strategies that may get you penalized “Picking a keyword is picking a fight. Don’t pick a fight unless you’re sure you can win.” 30 SEO strategies that may get you penalized