| Move to the top of the search results pages, | | | | your case, your site will never appear on |
| increase your visibility, drive traffic to | | | | search engine results page ever again. One |
| your site-with these promises, it is easy to | | | | example is the case of RICOH Germany. The |
| understand why many companies are tempted to | | | | German web site of the Japanese |
| avail of the services of a search engine | | | | office-products manufacturer was "de-listed" |
| marketing company that use optimization | | | | by Google after the search engine discovered |
| techniques search engines like Google and | | | | the site using spam techniques to bolster its |
| Yahoo! consider illegal. | | | | rankings (the site has been re-listed after |
| | | | the company apologized and its webmaster made |
| Known as Black Hat SEO, these methods include | | | | the modifications Google demanded). |
| adding hidden texts, creating doorway pages | | | | |
| (or, as Google defined them "pages created | | | | If you're really unlucky, aside from getting |
| just for search engines"), key word stuffing | | | | your site removed from the list, you might |
| (i.e., bombarding your content with too much | | | | also suffer from the same embarrassing fate |
| keywords and phrases), using popular but | | | | of BMW.de. While the banning of web sites |
| irrelevant keywords and participating in link | | | | are never really announced (even to the |
| farms. | | | | company that owns it), Google's engineer Mike |
| | | | Cutts announced on his blog the removal of |
| Despite the potential benefits they can | | | | BMW.de's site from the search engine's index |
| provide you, however, Black Hat SEO should be | | | | and even detailed the violations the web site |
| avoided like a plague. | | | | committed. According to Mr. Cutts, the web |
| | | | site was banned because it used "doorway |
| First of all, the search engines could drop | | | | pages". Reprimanding the site, he wrote, |
| your rankings so low that even the most | | | | "That's a violation of our webmaster quality |
| diligent of searchers would have a hard time | | | | guidelines, specifically the principle of |
| finding your site. And a lowered ranking, as | | | | 'Don't deceive your users or present |
| any business whose web site has been | | | | different content to search engines than you |
| penalized can tell you, is never a good | | | | display to users'." |
| thing. Kinderstart, a parenting web site for | | | | |
| example, experienced a 70% decline in traffic | | | | To avoid getting penalized or banned, hire a |
| and 80% revenue decrease after Google | | | | reputable search engine optimization company |
| penalized the site in March 2005 for | | | | and ensure that only white-hat SEO tactics |
| allegedly using Black Hat SEO techniques. | | | | will be used. Remember, as great as the |
| | | | promise of improved ranking may sound, the |
| And if you think getting your ranks lowered | | | | penalties the search engines could impose |
| is bad enough, then read this: in some cases, | | | | upon your site once you've been discovered to |
| the search engines even ban sites and remove | | | | be employing the unscrupulous techniques are |
| them from their index list-this means that, | | | | even greater. |
| unless you're able to successfully appeal | | | | |