SEO and Spam

Optimizing your web site for the search engines can be a difficult and time-consuming process. In addition to all of the tasks you must complete during the SEO process, you also need to conduct extensive research and continue to track your web traffic statistics to make sure your optimization efforts are worth the time and money you have spent. You may be tempted to use some rather unique techniques to boost your web rankings within a short time, but these techniques must be avoided in order to keep your site within the boundaries of ethical SEO. These methods can be considered spam, so learning how to avoid this distinction can save your reputation and help you boost your web site rankings.

Multiple Search Engine Submissions

While you can submit your web site to search engines more than once, submitting your site on a regular basis can have a harmful effect on your web rankings. Many search engines have guidelines for how many times you can submit your web site to be indexed. If you exceed these limits, you run the risk of being banned from the search engine or having your site ranked low in the results because you were found to be spamming the search engines.

Using Link Farms

Link farms are web sites where anyone can submit a link. This sounds like a great idea since links are so important for SEO, but using link farms can result in penalties or being banned from search engines altogether. Because link farms list links without any set criteria, they are not quality links that can help you to improve your page rankings. Some search engines will even penalize you or ban you for using link farms since these farms artificially improve your link popularity.

Hidden Text

Some sneaky optimizers may try to use hidden text on web pages. This is when text is printed in the same color as the background of the page so that it appears that the text does not exist. Search engines are wise to this method and you can be penalized for using hidden text to boost your web rankings.

Mirror Pages and Doorway Pages

Mirror pages and doorway pages are also unacceptable for search engine optimization. Using these methods, many designers would create identical pages, give them different titles, and submit all of the pages to the search engines. Now that the search engines do not accept these types of pages, using them is a waste of time and effort.

Overuse of Keywords

Keywords are very important for search engine optimization, but there are some limits to how many times the keywords can be used in your text. If you place keywords all over your page, you may be considered a keyword spammer and be penalized by the search engines or banned altogether.

Avoiding Spam

If you don't know the ins and outs of search engine optimization, you should consider hiring a professional SEO firm to optimize your site and submit it to the proper search engines and directories. The SEO Team offers a comprehensive list of web design and SEO services for businesses of any size. Visit our web site to find out about our SEO consulting services.

About The Author:
Bryan Garcia and his team of Internet marketing experts have been delivering TOP search engine results by using their unique formula of search engine optimization, Web site development, professional copywriting, and conversion consulting for a combined total of 20 years. Visit http://www.theseoteam.com to learn how your site can get to the top of the rankings.
Submitted: 2006-10-17
Article Source: GoArticles