How To Avoid Getting Banned By Google (UPDATED)

Nick(NR) · Posted: Wed Feb 07, 2007 10:47 pm Post subject:

The following is taken from the march edition of .Net magazine:
http://www.netmag.co.uk/

Written by: Jeremy Spiller, director of White Hat Media
Google has caught on and if you're still using black hat techniques, your site is at rick. The potential repercussions of getting banned from Google for even a day can be far-reaching. Those who exploit Google will suffer for it, but you can play within the rules and still win.

1. Check Guidelines
The most important step to ensure that you don't get banned or de-listed, is to check Google's guidelines and stick to them: Read them here

2. Human elements
Build your website for people, not search engines. If your site presents a good user experience, it'll be a good site for Google. Many black hat techniques involve trying to trick search engines by getting them to index content people can't actually see. This isn't good practice and Google is vigilant about de-listing sites that do this.

3. Slow Down
Don't be in a hurry. Some methods may look like an effective quick fix, but sooner or later, Google will penalise this approach or de-list the site. Securing a good position on Google for competitive search phrases usually takes time and effort. There are no shortcuts to sustaining high positions.

4. No Tricks
You can find out about various SEO tricks, and read a useful guide on what not to do by going to Matt Cutt's blog at http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/type/googleseo/ . Matt is a senior Google engineer.

5. Friendly Links
Be careful who you link to. You can be penalised by linking to the wrong sites and for being linked to so-called 'link farms'. A while ago link exchanges were very popular, but now these sites are being penalised by Google. So linking to them isn't a good idea.

6. Be Vigilant
Your site is important, so you need to look after it. Keep up to date with Google on what affects site listings, because guidelines are regularly updated. There's no excuse for being ignorant to the rules - they're all in black and white.

7. Change of Domain Name
Changing your site/forums domain name can cause any existing search status with google to be reset due to it needing to find the key words again for the new name. I must note this will not get you banned, but will cause you to start over with google on it's search, hence the reason for this here.

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