Watch Out, Bogus SEO Companies Are Everywhere
Unethical SEO is commonly used by bogus search engine optimization companies. All companies that offer Guaranteed SEO employ unethical SEO techniques. According to CNN News, BMW’s web site was penalized by Google for using unethical search engine optimization tactics.
Google has blocked the German Web site of BMW after accusing the car maker of trying to manipulate search results. The company was blacklisted for using so-called “doorway pages,” using search terms such as “new cars” and “used cars” to boost its ranking in search results lists.
Such pages can be used to trick search engines into sending users to Web sites that are not directly related to the search terms they are searching for. Google says it will temporarily or permanently suspend any site that breaks its rules. BMW denies any wrongdoing.
A Google spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that BMW.de has been removed from our search results. We never comment on the specifics of individual cases but we would stress that the quality of our index and search results is of the utmost importance to Google.”
Bad SEO Techniques Do More Harm Than Good
When search engines first appeared, some optimization techniques were born and they were widely used, then eventually overused and abused. As search engines grew more sophisticated, many of the initial optimization techniques became “spam” in the eyes of search engines. As search engine technologies evolve, more bad SEO techniques are created by spammers.
- One common spam is called keyword stuffing. – On web pages that have keyword stuffing, you will see that same keyword phrases repeated very unnaturally in the content, sometimes up to hundreds of times. When visitors come to such web sites, they leave right away, unimpressed by the bad content.
- Another common spam is called doorway page. – A doorway page is created purely for the purpose of tricking search engines. These pages are never intended for human visitors. Doorway pages are loaded with keywords in the page body, meta tags and URLs. Spammers use these doorway pages to attract traffic from Google, and once visitors land on these junk pages, they are redirected other web pages on the web site. You won’t see these doorway pages when you visit a web site unless you know where to find them. BMW’s web site was caught using doorway pages.
- Bad links can hurt your rankings. – Search engines gain trust in a web site by the links found on other web sites. Having quality links can help increase a web site’s rankings. However, bad links from irrelevant web sites cause more harm than good. As a business owner, you may have received solicitations from bogus SEO companies that want to build web links for you. What these companies do is use so-called “link farms” to create harmful links to your web site. All search engines frown upon this unethical technique.
Avoid Unethical SEO Companies
There are many self-claimed SEO firms out there. They all tell you that they can increase your web site’s rankings at Google, Yahoo and Bing. However, 99% of those firms have absolutely no qualification or experience in SEO. Most of these companies resort to the outdated spamming techniques to gain short-lived temporary ranking increases. These short-term tricks always lead to long-lasting penalties by search engines.
As a business owner, how do you find a true SEO expert?
- Don’t trust any SEO “experts” unless they can be found on Google. – Start by searching for SEO experts in your location on Google. If a SEO firm can’t get its own web site ranked at the top, do you think they can give your web site No. 1 ranking?
- Ask for Google ranking samples of their client web sites. – If they have never worked with any clients on search engine optimization, chances are they are new to SEO. SEO is an art and science. You truly want to work with someone who has the skills and extensive real-world experience.
- Check for references! – If a SEO firm has satisfied clients, these clients would LOVE to tell you how much they appreciate the service. When done right, SEO can make a huge difference in bringing in more leads and sales.
Hire Search Engine Optimization Experts – Minneapolis St. Paul, MN
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