When talked about the process of search engine optimization, there comes the discussion of black hat SEO techniques being adopted by certain webmasters. These techniques can result in imposing Search engine penalty by today’s much advanced search engine algorithms.

Defining Search Engine Penalty

Search Engine penalty is imposed by a search engine when incorrect SEO practices are performed with the aim to improve organic rankings in a short span of time. The malpractice results in banning the website from being indexed in search engine results pages. In this way, the reputation of the website drastically goes down and the website fails to generate potential web traffic.

Here are some of the techniques which can get your website penalized:-

1. Keyword Stuffing- Keywords hold an important place when it comes to indexing the website on search engine results pages. They show relevancy of the content in sync with the website’s goods and services. However, excess usage of keyword in the content can land your website in trouble. Merely adding block of keywords in the content can get the website penalized. Google wants that the website’s content offers value to its customers and that’s why it promotes judicious use of keywords which do not look odd.

2. Plagiarized Content- Plagiarism prevails in all industries and Content industry is no different. If the website’s content is plagiarized or in other terms, copied from other websites, then Google will strictly ban the website or will lower its ranking in the search engine results page. Rather than emphasizing on automated generation of the content, you should go for natural content.

3. Spam Comments- With automated softwares running these days, a lot of people are using them to drop irrelevant comments on your website which is termed as Spamming by Google and can create a lot of trouble. These comments include links that run back to users’ websites. Spam comments can lead to imposing severe penalty to the website by Google.

4. Paid Links- Some years back, many website owners used paid links to climb the ladder of search engine rankings. However, with Google Penguin update, this so-called technique became outdated as the algorithm update decreased website’s search engine rankings by calling paid linking as a violation of Google’s policies. The focus now is putting good quality content as against use of paid links.

5. Cloaking- This is a mechanism which involves showcasing fabricated content having keywords to search engines while at the same time, showcasing a rather varied content before the users. That is to say that two different pages will open before the user and search engines which indeed is a tricky way to come up on search engine results page. However, using this tricky way to be-fool both the parties can indeed get your website banned. So, it is best to avoid using this technique.

Thus,Avoiding Search Engine Penalty you can be sure that by avoiding these above-mentioned techniques and putting more efforts in white hat SEO process can result in better ranking of your website in search engine results page for longer duration.

SEO or Search Engine Optimization is the process through which web pages get organised in such a way thereby fetching better ranking on the search engines. The two definite ways of creating search engine friendly pages are On Page SEO and Off Page SEO. On Page SEO can be defined as elements which can create an impact on your web page or site to list it in the search engines results, examples of which would include keyword density and replacement, meta tags, HTML code, etc. Here are the top 10 tips for seo to help you generate more traffic to your website through On Page SEO:

1. Choice of Keywords- Choosing the right keywords and doing research for them is the first step towards ensuring that you get readers or buyers. You need to think about your potential visitors and thus need to be aware of the keywords that people associate with the topic you are posting about. Include semantic words as keywords – utilise the Google Keyword Suggestion Tool.
2. Title Shows the Article- Just like morning shows the day, research has shown that readers are more likely to choose among the top 3 results from the search engine and the ones with the most eye-catching title have better chances to get recognition. The total number of characters in the title should not ideally exceed 65 since most search engines cut off the ones that are having more words. In this respect, the title tag also becomes very important since search engines scan the title to assess what the article is about and it should thus be used to lure readers to click on your link.
3. Keyword Optimization in Description Meta Tag- The meta description tags are important in alluring readers by telling in short and simple words why they need to visit your site. This post should not exceed 160 characters but should at the same time serve the purpose of attracting visitors.
4. Alt Tags- Adding an alt tag to the images on your site can be helpful in attracting visitors even through Google images. However, overuse of the same keyword should be avoided. An improved version of the alt tag is something which serves as both the keyword and an explanation of the image.
5.  Keyword Density- It is a totally wrong concept to stash your write up with keywords since that just annoys visitors and ends up your page being banned from the Google list. The ideal keyword density is something between 3% and 5%.
6.  Keyword Optimization in Anchor Text- Anchor text includes words which are links to content in external sites or other pages on your site or point out particular areas in the same page. They are helpful in reduction of bounce rate and provide readers with ease of navigation.
7. Emphasizing Keywords- Placing your keywords in bold or italics gives your write up a better chance of being listed among the search engines rankings.
8. Using a Sitemap- Sitemaps help the search engine spider to scan your website and find the most important content and place it on their list. This also helps the search engines to keep a track of any altered or new content.
9. Proof Reading- Incorrect spellings or grammar, poor sentence structure and the like are all contributors to lowering the traffic on your website.
10. URLS- Try to incorporate the keyword or at least the most important one in your article/page URL by separating two or more words by a dash.