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Loading ...There aren’t that many things that can turn Google against you. The Internet is a pretty promiscuous and permissive place — it simply has to be! Well, just as a test and while I wasn’t using it, I turned Memes.org into a SPAM blog, a Splog! Why? Well, I was noticing a lot of Splogs popping up everywhere and I wanted to see what Google would do to me. What would happen when one of the most respected sites, Memes.org, turned to the dark side? A total, complete, and comprehensive removal of all pages: banned, shunned, excommunicated! Expulsion!
I installed and deployed a popular splogging tool, set up an SEO-optimized blog, and stuffed it with ads — the whole nine-yards. Memes was effectively an autoblog, running itself. It was plastered it with ads, tried out a bunch of black hat marketing and black hat SEO techniques. Actually, the works. And it totally worked, too — it was amazing! It worked like a charm! Zing!
Guess what happened? Banned! Banned from Google. After 6-years online, Memes.org was shunned. Excommunicated! Google removed Memes.org from all of their indices. From a PR6 to the gray bar of hell.
Big whoops, right? Memes was dead. It was just an experiment.
On the other hand, could you imagine what would happen if you were a business owner who relied on search, relied on Google, relied on online reputation, and relied on “being found” online for much of your business?
Losing your first page results on Google? Losing any and all organic traffic?
No matter how attractive it may be, black hat SEO tactics just can’t be worth it. They aren’t.
To compensate, Google really does reward SEO best practices: meta tag descriptions and keywords that aren’t just one-set-for-the-entire-site-laze (actually, any meta tag keywords and descriptions since most sites don’t even have bad meta tags), clearly-labeled photos and images, judicious use of image alt tags, clear site architecture, use of Google Webmaster tools such as Google Analytics, Google Sitemaps.
If you want to know how to design a website, think Web Accessibility for People. Google “looks” at sites much the same way the seeing impaired do. Here as some useful tips that will also really make Google love you, too:
Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites
- Images & animations: Use the alt attribute to describe the function of each visual.
- Image maps. Use the client-side map and text for hotspots.
- Multimedia. Provide captioning and transcripts of audio, and descriptions of video.
- Hypertext links. Use text that makes sense when read out of context. For example, avoid “click here.”
- Page organization. Use headings, lists, and consistent structure. Use CSS for layout and style where possible.
- Graphs & charts. Summarize or use the longdesc attribute.
- Scripts, applets, & plug-ins. Provide alternative content in case active features are inaccessible or unsupported.
- Frames. Use the noframes element and meaningful titles.
- Tables. Make line-by-line reading sensible. Summarize.
- Check your work. Validate. Use tools, checklist, and guidelines at http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG
Here’s some more advice, stolen from Make Your Invisible Graphics-Intensive or Flash Site Highy Visible to Google:
Keep Pronouns to a Strict Minimum
First, never use pronouns. Keyword density is essential to how Google ranks you. Second, use variations on search terms. To illustrate the first two points, I will take a bit of copy and optimize it for search engines and their love for keyword density.
The Controversial Image ALT Tag
Although there is much debate over whether Google pays any attention to ALT tags for images, I always recommend adding ALT tags to all image files, even when the web page is made up of a “sliced image.?? The only ALT tags that exist are usually in the banner of the site. No other parts of a highly graphical or flash-based main page are usually textualized using image ALT tags.
Your company slogan, tagline, phone number, guarantees, products, services, the menu choices (navigation) should be included in the image ALT tags. Even if Google doesn’t care about ALT tags like the rumors say, the site will be way more navigable, especially to the blind and seeing impaired – and don’t they deserve a break? don’t they need your services, too?
Google’s “Eyes” Focus on Where Your Eyes Do
Google give favor and weight to headers and emphasized text. No matter what anyone says, Google cares about formatting. Strong, Bold, Emphasized, Italicized, and Hyperlinked text is favored by Google. Also, Google looks at header tags, too. Header 1, Header 2, Header 3, and Header 4 are important to use. This is especially important because when the same desigers who have you that “sliced” graphics-based site, they might have designer the CSS style sheet without concern for these thing. CSS styles can change the look of regular HTML tags as easily as they can customized DIVs, SPANS, and STYLES.
I will look around and see if I can find more stuff. I think that’s good enough for now. Ask me any questions you have and I’d be happy to answer.
Filed under: Black Hat Marketing, Black Hat PR, Black Hat SEO, Google, Google Gaming, Google PageRank, Google Search
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Great post with so many ways of Promoting the right way going black hat is cyber suicide.