SEO Blog

Search engine optimisation is by definition a series of processes designed to make a website stronger and improve its chances of gaining an improved ranking within SERPs for a range of key terms. When everything is done properly, this is exactly what you should achieve; however, there are a few pitfalls that you need to be aware of.

Whilst SEO is something that all websites need to do, it isn’t looked upon too kindly by the search engines. Their algorithms have become increasingly complex to rid the internet of some of the more damaging SEO techniques (known as black hat SEO) that were so virulent many moons ago. This all means that you have to be really clever and make sure that you are always adhering to the search engines codes and statutes.
(more…)

If you have added toxic links to your site, deliberately or inadvertently, the consequences can be dire. Search engines may dock you numerous rankings across the board and could even have you removed entirely; this is the very definition of an SEO disaster.

So if you have these links coming into your site and it is suffering as a consequence, what can you do? Well, first of all, get rid of the link and any others that may be devaluing your linking strategy. Whilst a good number of links is key to improving the strength of a site, they have to be the right kind and can’t be ill-gotten.

A toxic link is essentially anything coming from a website that is considered disreputable; perhaps they are known to sell links (often known as a link farm), have a reputation for spreading malware or have been found to be spamming Google – none  good news for you. Don’t pay for links from questionable sources and always keep an eye on who exactly is linking in at all times.

The recovery of search engine rankings can take time. Although after your pages have been re-indexed and the linking process evaluated again, you should begin to notice a few upward arrows. Essentially you’ll be starting again, although with the significant advantage of already having your content and other SEO work already intact.

Essentially, when you upset Google its best not to try and fight it. If there is something on your site that shouldn’t be there, whether or not it is there by your own hand or not, get rid of it. If you can’t immediately find the offending toxic link in your midst, then I’m afraid you’ll have to go through and remove any links that you can’t knowingly trust. This is the only sure-fire way to ensure that you get the offending article and make your peace with Google, Bing et al.

If you are suddenly plummeting down through the rankings, then you should try to contact Google directly. Their advisors will be able to let you know if there are any reasons, beyond simple algorithmic changes, that you should be aware of. This is often the only way that you can find out if the issue lies with toxic links or elsewhere in your optimisation attempts.

Fundamentally though the best advice is to not get involved with anything online that you don’t fully understand. If you’re paying money for links, make sure that it is from a legitimate source or don’t bother – you’ll just end up wasting your time and money. Don’t do anything that contravenes search engine rules – which basically means using your common sense.

It’s hard to believe that keyword stuffing was ever acceptable and that it did in fact help many sites to rank higher in the search engines. Today this is no longer the case. The likes of Google have cottoned on to these sites that used keywords at a density of up to (and often beyond) 20%, adjusting algorithms to ensure that they can no longer fool the system.

Keyword stuffing was, as the name suggests, all about getting as many keywords on a page as possible. This in turn was supposed to result in higher rankings on the major search engines and therefore drive more traffic to a site. Thankfully this practice has now been outmoded and all but eradicated. However, that doesn’t mean that some website owners aren’t still tempted to give it a go.
(more…)

When you’ve just set up a new website it can be difficult to keep on top of everything and find out exactly what tools are out there to help you. With so many companies offering similar, at least on the face of it at any rate, services, choosing the right one for your needs can be tricky.

(more…)

I still find many sites that are using hidden text to stuff their keywords within a the pages of their websites to get higher rankings.

This is a big no no and should defiantly be avoided as when the search engines twig as to what you are doing you will more than likely get your domain banned.

In some instances its not the website owners doing it can be down to the SEO Consultant hired to do the job but never the less the website is the entity that will end up getting banned.

To check to see if you have hidden text on ny of your pages just navigate to the page and press CTRL & A which will select all the text on the page and if there is and hidden text you will be able to see it.

Do you spam the search engines?

Now before you say no consider this. Many companies will have a UK and US presence and so have a .com and .co.uk website address. This is fine and a good idea but now is when it normally goes wrong.

Instead of having the website hosted on one of the website addresses and then redirecting the other to it using a 301 redirect they go and put the content on both sites. Bad move and thus you are spamming the search engines and will likely have one of them removed as this is classed as duplicate content.

Now as i said the best way to do this is to use a 301 redirect to redirect the domain you are not going to use at the one you are. Which one you use is down to you and there arguments for both that I wont go into here but just ensue you don’t have sites that are a carbon copy of each other online as it will do you no good.

If you have a Flash site and are looking to promote it within the search engines then you only really have one option, Link Building.

It is very difficult to optimise a website built using Flash due to the fact that the search engines find it very difficult to read the content, as a consequence cant see the relevance.

Your only real option is link building and that can be achieved by sourcing links from various different locations such as:

• Free & Paid Directories
• Blog Posts
• Forums

The main type of link you want to go for is a one way link which is where another web page links to your website and you don’t have to link back.

It is always a good idea if you are going to have a Flash website to have a normal HTML version to accommodate the search engines and also searchers that cannot view Flash.

Keyword stuffing is the process of filling your website with long lists of keywords. This is done with the sole purpose being to higher the keyword weight on your pages and get you ranked higher in the search engines.

There are many different ways you can keyword stuff including:

• Using hidden text
• Listing keywords in plain view
• Using the hidden input tag
• Repeating keywords in the Meta
• Hiding keywords in the Comments tags

This is a black hat technique and should be avoided at all costs if you value the longevity of your website rankings.