How to Avoid Getting Your Website Banned by Google

With the search landscape getting more and more competitive, it is natural for search engines particularly the search engine giant, Google, to come up with ways to make the competition fair for everyone. No wonder Google algorithm updates abound, and digital marketers are trying to keep up with the pace as much as they can to keep their website relevant and in the lead.

There are many reasons why your website can get banned on Google. If you are practicing any of these, let’s just say you have been warned.

1.      Participating in link schemes.

2.      Selling links to increase Google PageRank value.

3.      Buying links that have high Google PageRank value.

4.      Duplicating content for the sole purpose of increasing website credibility.

5.      Cloaking.

6.      Spamming.

7.      Unnatural links on your website.

8.  Using keywords not relevant to the business of the website or using keywords way too frequently.

9.      Subscribing to link farms and other manipulative link building strategies.

10.   Unnatural anchor text distribution

There are cases wherein these black hat SEO practices are being done intentionally while there are others who get a Google notice without knowing that they are violating the guidelines. Whatever position you are in the spectrum, how do you avoid getting banned by Google?

1.      Do not trick the system. If you think that you can outsmart Google, think again. Not only are they smarter than you by a hundred miles, but they have the authority also to control the system. It is in the constant updating of the system that keeps search engines fair for those who want to use it in the most honest way possible. Ultimately, there are more Google Don'ts than those listed above. Do not wait for your website to be blocked with all the tricks you have managed to get away with in the past. It is just not worth it.

2.      Be wary of the links that point to your website. There are tools today that you can use to check who is pointing to your website. You might be surprised where your links are if you do not check it as often as you should. And with Google algorithms regularly updated, the link building practices you have employed last year may be a cause of stress for you this year. Check where your website links are found. If these can still be found in abandoned forums and unrelated websites, take action immediately.

3.      Read and be updated. The only weapon in this constantly changing search landscape is to be updated with the news. Make time to read reputable blogs that detail new guidelines in the Google algorithms. By keeping posted with what is recent, you can make the necessary changes on your website before Google detects it. Relying on search engines for your marketing requirements means being updated with its rules. Knowledge is your best defense to make search work on your side.

SEO may not bear fruit immediately, but if you stay patient and keep in compliance with the rules, you will be surprised at how everything will fall into the right place.

How to Manage and Set Your Expectations with SEO Services

After you hired someone to develop, design and come up with the content for your website, you need another set of minds to manage the presence of your website in the search landscape. Thus, if you are availing of SEO services, it is not enough to leave all the  work in the hands of your hired specialists. You need to manage your expectations well so you know where your money is going. How can you manage and set your expectations in this regard?

Read About It

Today, with many literatures on SEO available, it is easy to access these nuggets of knowledge by doing a simple search on the internet. If you want to have guided and substantiated expectations, you need to be knowledgeable about the services you are availing in the first place. The same way when you purchase a car, it is not enough that you buy the car that looks the most appealing to your eyes; you buy the vehicle that has the best system under the hood.

By educating yourself what organic search means, what link building is for, how to conduct keyword research and what the acronym SEM stands for, you have a way to evaluate the recommendations your hired SEO company has for you aside from setting your expectations on a practical level.

SEO is Not a Pinch of Magic Dust

SEO does not work like magic, and that kind of framework probably is the reason why there are people who are skeptical about SEO in general. They believe that SEO should magically propel their website on the top of search engines. Some believe that in a span of 2 weeks, their website should already have significant rankings. However, if you think that SEO should yield results that fast, you are wrong.

In order to get the best optimisation results for your website, you have to remember that it will take some time for it to bear fruit. And you have to be cautious about SEO services that guarantees you the top spot on Google because they are probably using black hat or illegal SEO practices. If Google detects these black hat activities, it can flag you down and impose penalties on your website. When setting and managing your expectations, think of SEO as a long-term investment. Your patience and your practical outlook will help a lot in this endeavour.

Communicate Regularly

Especially if the whole idea of SEO services is new to you, reading about it is not enough to keep you afloat. It is equally important to communicate with your hired SEO company and have them update you about the activities they are engaged in so far. Seek updates on how your target keywords are currently ranking, the articles and blogs they have written about your business, the blog and forum comments that they have made and how your social media presence looks like. Require reports and status updates as regularly as you can so you can manage your expectations as well.

The delivery of results will come granted that your hired SEO company employs the best SEO practices in the industry. Research, be realistic and ask whenever you have questions. These are your tools nay weapons to stay grounded in the whole optimisation process of your website.

Google Hummingbird: What Is Conversational Search?

If you have read about the recent Google update, the Google Hummingbird algorithm, what is glaring about it is its stress on conversational search. What is it all  about?

Let us say you are looking for images of the famous Great Wall in China.

The instinct is to type in ‘great wall of china images’ on the search bar. This is an instinct universally shared by the majority of the world population hooked on Google searching for everyday answers to their everyday questions. 

However, with the rise of smart phones with speech recognition features, there is a natural shift in search behaviour. Instead of opening your phone’s search engine, it is easier to open your phone’s speech recognition application and communicate your search query with it. Siri, for instance, is a speech recognition application exclusive in Apple phones that allows users to input their query by voice.

Ultimately, when one talks to a phone to search for an answer, the person is not talking in staggered and segmented keywords. Rather, that person will be communicating with the phone using coherent and complete sentences or questions. This is where the Google Hummingbird algorithm enters the scene. 

As search behaviour becomes more ‘humanised’ rather than ‘robotic’, it is important that Google adopts this change in behaviour and incorporate it into its system. Hence, the Google Hummingbird algorithm update. 

Search is definitely dynamic given the devices and technological tools that enter the market. With the significance attached to conversational search, this lends us insight on the importance of great content. Time and again, high quality and original content never become defeated in terms of its relevance and importance to Google. As mentioned earlier, as we inch towards more humanised and rather more intelligent search behaviour, it becomes prudent that content needs to have a context and meaning. It should not only read well to web crawlers, but more importantly, to actual human users who rely on search for everyday life answers.

Moreover, conversational search favours those who are serious and passionate about their content creation efforts. As the search landscape is levelled further and black hat SEO practitioners are slowly given the boot, smart content marketing is slowly finding its rightful place. To establish yourself as a subject matter expert is now more rewarding with the prime importance on conversational search by the Google Hummingbird algorithm.

For content marketers and bloggers alike, this is definitely your year.