Mistakes That Cause Trouble With Search Engines

Some of these problems are caused accidentally on purpose! That is to say, the webmaster intentionally did something illegal while following bad advice, but not knowing the advice may cause problems. Some problems are caused from a simple lack of knowledge.

1. Using illegal HTML attributes and values. For example, adding a summary attribute and value to tags that don't allow for them, such as a paragraph tag. Sample illegal tag:

   <p summary="Internet marketing methods explained.">
   

2. Most people know that hidden text is search engine illegal. What many do not know is that search engines can view visible text as hidden! If you have a table with a different colored background than the page background, and use a text color inside that table that is the nearly the same or the same color as your web page background color, your site may be penalized for hidden text at some search engines.

   Even though all your text is readable because you set a different table background color, many search engines don't consider the table background color, they just see the text in the table is the same color as your web page background color and boom—your site is penalized.

3. Gateway pages, doorway pages, bridge pages, ghost pages—whatever you want to call them—meaning pages designed for the sole purpose of search engine placement, are a big taboo. Search engines have little mercy for those caught using them.

   If you do use a gateway page, don't just put up a redirect page or one keyword page. Gateway pages must have relevant content on them, and enough relevant content to make the page useful for more than the purpose of search engine placement.

   Also, keep the number of gateway pages you use down to a minimum. If you have a 10 pages of content and 25 gateway pages, it's pretty obvious it's a spam attempt.

   Gateway pages that instantly redirect visitors to another page are automatically considered spam. There are legitimate uses for redirect pages, such as using one to redirect visitors when you have removed a page from your site, but you should provide an explanation on the page, a link for browsers that don't support the redirect meta tat, and delay the redirect at least 10 seconds. Using the "no index" meta tag is a good idea on redirect pages, as it tells the search engine not to index the page, reducing the odds it will be considered a spam attempt.

4. Submitting multiple versions of the same page or nearly the same page, only changing the page name and making few, if any, minor wording changes on it, is just another spam sandwich to the search engines. Search engines don't say, "mmm...tasty!" to spam sandwiches, they say bye-bye to your ranking, or even your listing. This is commonly referred to as the 'duplicate content' penalty.
5. Going overboard with too many keywords on a page is an obvious spam attempt. For example, if your page contains 300 words and the keyword phrase "web design" is repeated 50 times, it's obvious you are trying to spam the search engine—and one thing many people don't seem to realize is that the detection methods are automated, the search engine spiders can calculate keyword ratios faster than you can.
6. Using a host that also hosts adult sites and/or documented spammers can result in your site being banned even if you strictly abide by all the rules. Adult sites are notorious for abusing search engine policy. Some search engines retaliate against adult site hosting companies by blocking those sites' underlying IP addresses. If your site is with the same host, your site may share that banned IP address.

   Adult sites are also bandwidth hogs, so your site can easily become very slow or unreachable at times. Before selecting a hosting company, always check to see if they hosts adult sites. If your current host does, I'd recommend changing hosts.

Some folks think they are getting away with cheating because they are using illegal tactics and still enjoy decent rankings. What they don't realize is that their site may rank higher if it were cleaned up. It's possible they are already being penalized, and when they've finally pushed it over the limits, their domain will be banned.

Sometimes, a web site will slip through the cracks. But these are exceptions to the rule. Don't be misguided by a lucky webmaster who is temporarily getting away with cheating, for they too will be caught eventually. By practicing ethical search engine optimization strategies you can achieve a good ranking without resorting to cheating, and you'll sleep better at night not worrying about your site being banned.