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Inspired by this hread [webmasterworld.com] I thought it might be fun/useful to note down what we consider bad SEO moves.
Hidden text
Asking for trouble, especially if you're doing it with the 'same color as background' approach. Easy to spot and definately SPAM.
Guest book signing
Bit more of a grey area this, but, excessive guestbook signing has got at least one guy I know a PR0 on all his sites..
Excessive interlinking of sites
We all tread a fine line with this one, but linking back and forth from your 'web of sites' is a potential killer..
Anyone like to add some?
Nick
Obviously a manual review will ban you if it's just spam but I also suspect that placing a load of links in the <noframes> section risks a PR0
Ramming masses of spam text in ALT tags and meta tags
1x1 image with no other reason than to ram alt text in.
Doorway pages that are just that.
Repeating yourself at anytime is pretty pointless, but doing it for the sole purpose of trying to get more traffic is stupid!
The SE's will catch you and then - you're outta there!
JOAT :)
If it sounds stupid when you read it aloud ... it is!
Nick
2. Stuffing ambiguous meta elements with keyword phrases. Abusing the Dublin Core standards.
3. Stuffing your page titles with keyword phrases. I just saw one yesterday that was close to 18 words long!
4. Duplicate meta tags. I believe there is a certain organization out there that might teach this, not sure.
5. Dual links from clients sites. One with www. and one without. This is one we see more frequently these days.
6. SEO's hiding their own links within their clients links pages.
7. Hidden <div>'s stuffed with keyword phrases. Requires a manual review to catch but expect to receive a hefty penalty from Google if caught. Same goes for hidden links.
8. Use uncompetitive terms on your SEO site to display your SEO skills to prospects. We've seen some really good ones, mostly 4-5 word phrases. Come on, kids do that all the time by mistake!
9. Using alt tags to place entire page content into. We've seen lots of this. Incredible how many are severly abusing the system not knowing that it is really doing nothing for them.
10. Multiple-Keyword-Rich-Hyphenated-Domain-Names-That-Are-Purely-Spam. These are clearly set up for spamming and stick out like a sore thumb, stop it! The least you can do is be professional about it. I got one this week that was 7 words I believe.
11. Canonical abuse. You know who you are.
12. Last but not least, and surely not the last of the dumb SEO tricks list, submission to thousands of search engines.
On number 12, I still find it hard to believe that in this day and age, consumers are still buying into this method of advertising and promotion. Someone has to be, there are just way to many sites out there promoting this, way too many!
<edit>Fixed some typos, sorry! I hate those things.</edit>
[edited by: pageoneresults at 5:08 pm (utc) on Nov. 15, 2002]
Add to 9:
Using unfunctional keywords in ALT tags that impair users that may need the ALT tags (eg, back button with "blue widgets for sale in UK").
Not likely to be picked up without a manual search, but ALT tags are meant for functionality, not selling!
JOAT :)
ps, whatīs canonical abuse?
search-engine-optimization.domain.com
web-site-optimization.domain.com
blue-widgets-in-holyoke-better-than-yours.domain.com
Cheers P1R! :)
So this is the abuse of subdomains (or is my lack of technical understanding totally transparent)?
Eg,
www.marketing.webmasterworld.com
www.seo.webmasterworld.com
www.wiget.webmasterworld.com
etc etc
If they all shared content in some way (redirects to the same site, duplicate content), this would be canonical abuse?
Isnīt this widely practised? Ive seen tonnes of sites using this technique.
Or have grabbed the worng end of the stick?
Cheers
JOAT
They are to be used to logically break down a sites structure into sub-categories. When you have a long spammy hypenated domain, preceded by the same spammy hyphenated canonical, you've crossed the line in my eyes. When we see those, we know for sure what they are there for. When your URL gets truncated in the SERP's, you should double check your strategy and make sure you have not gone overboard. This is definitely wrong...
blue-widgets-holyoke.blue-widgets-holyoke.com/blue-widgets-holyoke/blue-widgets-holyoke.htm
[edited by: pageoneresults at 8:40 pm (utc) on Nov. 16, 2002]
Got you! :)
Another addition to the list:
Setting up tacky niche directories en masse for the sole purpose of promoting your cash cow site with banners all over the place.
JOAT
Whoops, better change mine then, but i only did it for design purposes (not spam). As i thought my dynamic menu looked better than text hyperlinks. So i blended my links with the background, so users couldnt see it but spiders could. :)
We feel this practice should not be done. Why? Well, for many reasons. One, you are exposing your clients strategies. Two, you are leaving yourself wide open for scrutinizing. If you have anything on those sites that is questionable, you've just provided a direct path.
Sure, its okay to give an example like...
"Our SEO services have helped many clients in various industries to acheive top ten and twenty rankings for their competitive terms. For more information, please contact us for details and referrals."
No need to give away the farm without some call to action. You need to spark their interest and solicit a contact from them.
