Search Engine Optimization News Blog

Google penalties are mysterious to many, and website owners live in fear of seeing their rankings drop unannounced.

The outcry in the past weeks over the supposed ‘-60’ penalty has triggered a fresh round of speculation and criticism for the network and ad giant’s tactics. Many feel that Google should release a ‘clear concise report’ of what specific criteria is used to determine who gets penalized and for what. As it stands, you have to surf forums and discussion boards for nuggets of information.

Many website owners were recently shocked to see their site plummet in rank from the top ranking to spot 61 or lower. In the past we have seen apparent penalty filters that dropped a sites ranking to #6 or # 31, and this would appear to be more of the same

So how can you protect yourself from penalties and dropped rankings? You are working hard to optimize your site for search engine ranking, but you need to make certain that your hard work is not in vain.

The steps are simple. Educate yourself. Play by the rules. If you closely examine your site and compare it to Google’s stringent guidelines, you might see an area of non-compliance you had overlooked.

The #1 reason for dropped rankings in the Google search engine is SEO activity that makes them suspicious. Excessive links appearing all at once, links to sites with no content - these are signs to Google that your site is not as valuable as you would like them to think.

Make sure you read the Google Webmaster Guidlines to help you verify that your website is compliant with all rules and regulations concerning content, linking and other optimization tactics. If you are unsure about a particular method, ask yourself how you would feel describing it to a peer in the field.

Making sure you follow all of Google’s standards for content. Quality content is still the best way to get attention for your site.

If you feel that your site is now free from violations, double-check one more time, and submit a re-consideration request to Google confessing your sins and verifying your information.

The haze of confusion and controversy surrounding penalties may not clear for some time, but if you ensure that your SEO techniques are valid and correctly implemented, you should be in the clear.