Here Are 7 Common SEO Flaws That Can Get Your Site BANNED By Google (And What You Can Do About It)

Some of the most popular and profitable firms have had their websites plummet from the first page of Google to as low as page 7 or 8. This has impacted Companies of all stripes, from boutique owners to factories. You should check your site for any of the seven deadly sins of search engine optimization (SEO) to avoid having it buried on page three of Google search results where it might as well not exist.

If you take care to avoid these common pitfalls, you’ll have a far better chance of avoiding the dreaded Google Slap.

Excessive optimization

Recent Google algorithm changes have resulted in ranking penalties for overly optimized websites. If the Google spiders (the software that analyzes your website as it crawls the web) come upon a page that appears to be excessively optimized for a specific set of keywords, they will penalize your site.

Writing your website content naturally, without stuffing your keywords into every syllable, is the most excellent method to avoid the optimization penalty. You can now gain an advantage over competitors who have spent thousands optimizing every last bit of content for search engines by simply redrafting your content to make sure that your keyword density is not above about 3% (you can check this in WordPress with most SEO plugins or search Google for keyword density checker) and having a few sentences that are more reader-friendly than spider-friendly.

Exchanging Links

To increase the number of inbound links to your site (a significant indication that Google uses to identify popular sites), link sharing (posting links to someone else’s website and having them do the same for you) was previously met with little more than a slap on the wrist from the web giant. Google is now actively penalizing extensive use of link-sharing schemes to eliminate the unfair advantages some businesses gain from ‘link farms’ (websites whose sole purpose is to provide links to other websites).

You can easily avoid the punishment for link sharing by not doing it. If you decide to distribute links, only do so with reputable sources (those with a high page rank). Instead, it would be best if you focused on acquiring one-way connections (links to your site from other websites that do not require a reciprocal link). Article submission to directories with a backlink and participation in high-quality, topic-related forums and blogs will help. If you work for an industrial metalwork manufacturer and leave comments on 300 blogs about dog walking, Google will not reward you. However, if you work in the construction industry, Google will reward you.

ineffective site links

Having 30,000 sites connect to you, much like traditional link-exchange programs, will now result in a penalty, especially if most of those sites are low-quality ‘junk’ sites like link farms and auto blogs. Instead, acquiring 30-300 inbound connections from authoritative sites will significantly improve your chances of skyrocketing to the top of Google search results.

If you haven’t already established a strong network of high-quality connections from authority sites, you should avoid employing automatic linking software. Once you’ve proven to Google that you have links originating from areas with a high page rank, you can go to lesser-quality sites and construct your massive inbound link network.

Weak Connections

According to other companies, their rankings plummeted when they integrated too many SEO-friendly connections into their websites. Google will penalize your site’s rating if all of your incoming links have the words “buy your next car here” in them. This is because Google views this as a sign of spam. Linking to related content (‘discounts on Fords at this dealer’) or irrelevant content (‘click here’) has been proven to boost a company’s Google rankings.

If you’ve tried everything and still can’t crack the first page of Google’s search results, you might want to explore building a couple of these links on relevant sites.

No fresh material

Google has long punished sites with old, unrefreshed material, but many companies build fantastic websites and never update them. Websites that don’t maintain themselves by adding new information regularly not only lose visitors but also search engine rankings.

Maintaining a current website’s not as difficult as you think. Keeping a frequently updated blog on your site is an excellent method to demonstrate to Google that you care about preserving the health of your site, and optimizing your pages to maximize engagement from potential customers should have you doing so anyway. The bare minimum frequency for blog entries is every two weeks, and the minimum length for each post is 300 words. You can do it yourself or pay someone less than $40 per article to do it for you.

Absence of Social Cues

To prove a website’s popularity and importance, Google’s most recent update places heavy weight on social signals. Google uses the lack of social media attention to determine whether or not a website is as helpful as those that receive coverage.

Having your blog posts and pages easily shared, tweeted, and bookmarked will increase the number of links from social media sites and expose your site to the visitors’ networks, increasing the likelihood that you will gain new customers. The ability to actively generate social media traffic and links to your site makes a social media profile and company page less of a luxury and more of a requirement for any business.

Lack of Action

The amount of user engagement on each page is now the primary factor Google uses to determine your website’s worth. Everything from the number of people that visited your site for the first time to the number of comments, likes, and shares your material received.

If you want more people to interact with you online, you should make it easy for them to do so by enabling blog comments (while keeping an eye out for spam) and encouraging content sharing. Blog posts and videos that are longer and of higher quality are another excellent strategy for keeping visitors on your site for more extended periods. Although the exact effect of having an online contact form is unclear, we can confidently say that having one will have no adverse impact on your Google ranking. If your company provides a quote service, including a contact form for visitors to fill out may also increase your page activity in Google’s eyes.

Using the above strategies will help you outsmart Google’s update system and boost your rankings for targeted keywords, bringing in more visitors and potential customers consistently and maximizing your site’s ROI for your business.

Stephen leads the creative agency Outbreak as its director.

Small company owners who have fallen prey to cowboy marketers who claim rapid increases in lead generation and new consumers only to disappear with their cash are encouraged to contact us for jargon-free consultations and services. We assist clients in determining the current state of their company, their long-term goals, and the marketing techniques that will get them there quickly and consistently. Do you wish to learn further?

For free marketing advice for local businesses, feel free to contact Stephen at Stephen.Dalchow@OutbreakCA.com or visit our website at http://www.outbreakca.com.

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