Are You Making SEO Strategies To Penalize Your Blog in SERP?

Spamdexing—“It is the deliberate manipulation of search engine indexes”, according to Web definition. Other names for it are Web spam, search engine poisoning, and search spam.

In simple terms, it involves the practice of optimization methods that violate webmaster guidelines, wherein the most common violations include duplicating content, stuffing too many keywords, linking to irrelevant or low-quality sites, and hiding text.

Now, some webmasters are not aware that they are already breaching the rules. The main reason for this is failure to familiarize several search engines’ regulations or the lack of expertise.

Then again, some website owners have the guts to go against the guidelines because they think that they can get away with it.

Well, this was the usual case several years ago.

But with stricter ranking factors and constant algorithm updates these days, a single violation can lead to a penalty and you may not get good ranks in SERPs.

If you do not want to land in the bottom of SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) and don’t want to be caught by Google while breaking its regulations then, find out what optimization strategies to avoid.

The SEO strategies that you should avoid to rank better in SERPs are:

1. Swapping links

This used to be a popular tactic in the past, which is not the case nowadays. If you insist on exchanging links with other sites thinking that spiders are not aware, then know that your activity can leave behind a noticeable trace.

2. Buying links to get Page Rank

NEVER make the mistake of paying several domains to provide you with backlinks for Page Rank purposes. If you do, be prepared to see your website in the tenth page of SERPs.

3. Using the same anchor texts repeatedly

So you want to appear in SERPs for the keyword “SEO”, so you decide to mention the said acronym several times on a webpage. To top it off, it is the only anchor text you use to link to your site’s inner pages.

However, if you keep on doing these, there is a huge possibility that Google will De-index your website.

4. Linking to irrelevant domains

If your niche is sports, what connection can you find on a finance site? Surely, you cannot expect to provide budgeting tips to your readers, who wish to learn more about soccer than financing.

Apart from losing credibility, this may cost you that much-coveted position in the SERPs.

5. Optimizing your website excessively

Oh, yes, there is such a tactic as over optimization. It usually involves using every SEO technique you know for every page on your site hoping that doing so increases the likelihood of being number one in SERPs.

Unfortunately, this will only lead to a penalty.

6. Placing too many keywords to rank better in SERP

What will you think if I incorporate the key phrase “SEO techniques” to every number on my list?

I bet you will find it annoying. Now, imagine your target users feeling the same way because you are doing the same. Not only this, Google will take down your site instead of giving it a high ranking in SERPs.

7. Hiding text (specially keywords)

Search engine optimization.

If you look closely at the space above, you can see “search engine optimization”.

Why am I doing this? I am hiding the keyword to make the flow of my article look natural. You might not notice the phrase, but the search engine crawlers will. And upon detection of the term, they will index my page for relevant content and will rank it in SERPs. Mind you, this is only an example and not fit for application.

8. Producing irrelevant content

According to plenty of social media experts, you have to be on the lookout for trending issues. While this is a great means of finding interesting topics, it will not work if the subject matter does not relate to your website’s theme.

You have to remember that you are targeting a specific group of readers. If you provide them with information not connected to your niche, you will lose their trust and will get low ranking in SERPs.

9. Duplicating the work of other webmasters

If your site thrives on copying content from other domains, then you should not be running it at all.

10. Spinning articles

These days, you can find plenty of portals offering spinner software, which supposedly makes writing as easy as 1-2-3.

Indeed, you can come up with new articles in a matter of minutes because the program rephrases the words for you. The only problem is that it is not capable of keeping the write-up’s natural flow. If you produce text content this way, you can expect fewer readers and a lower ranking in SERPs.

11. Cloaking

Generally, it involves showing different links to search engines and to your audience. It may also include presenting a webpage that consists only of Flash graphics or images to the users but serving a page with HTML text to the Google.

After knowing what the method encompasses, you already have an idea why it can lead to a penalty.

12. Creating doorway pages

Unlike the latter, this tactic involves a set of low-quality web pages, wherein you optimize each one for a particular keyword and then funnel everything to one content page destination.

Its similarity to cloaking is that it deceives both the readers and search engines with different content.

13. Submitting articles to content farms

Resource websites used to be very popular in the past. However, most of them slowly lost their credibility, what with the application of the mentioned violations. So, if you are planning to apply this technique hoping to generate backlinks, you have to think twice. You would not want your portal to lose your authority and reliability.

14. Placing too many adverts

You can incorporate ads to your Web pages, especially if you wish to make money out from doing so. However, you must not do this excessively to the point that your online presence looks more like an advertising billboard than a website.

15. Recommending black hat methods

Are you consciously practicing most of the strategies mentioned on this article and have gotten away with it?

If you are, then don’t make the mistake of bragging about it and telling other webmasters to do the same.

Why? Well, you would be informing search engines that you are breaching their guidelines.

Final Insights…

If there are key SEO tips you have to keep in mind, these are to optimize your website for the users and not just for the spiders and to follow regulations at all times. This way, you can guarantee that Google won’t take down or De-index your site.