SEO
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Many online companies have become aware of the importance of ranking well in the search engines. A recent article reveals that 62% of search engine users click only on results that appear on the first search engine results page (SERP) and less than 10% of users click on results that appear after the third page.
In order to place well in the SERPs companies have begun to use search engine optimization techniques (SEO). That is they manipulate the site's content and meta tags, as well as attempt to attract incoming links from other sites. However, certain SEO techniques directly violate the guidelines published by the search engines. While the specific guidelines vary a bit, they can all be summed up as: show the same content to search engines as you show to users.
Failure to conform to search engine guidelines can lead to penalties, such as worse placement in the SERPs or an outright ban from the search engine. Consider the case of BMW's German Web site (www.bmw.de). On February 7, 2006, Google banned this site for using a "doorway" page, essentially showing one page to the search engines and a different page to humans. According to a Google spokesperson, "Google may temporarily or permanently ban any site or site authors that engage in tactics designed to distort their rankings or mislead users in order to preserve the accuracy and quality of our search results.
This article examines some of the techniques that can lead the search engines to ban a site—so called "black hat" techniques. It is important for all webmasters and those that outsource their search engine optimization programs to understand these techniques and the impact they can have on search engine placement. One problem faced by legitimate sites is that black hat sites may rank well for short periods of time (before they are banned). High-ranking black hat sites will push legitimate sites down in the SERPs. In fact, many black hats make a living by automatically generating thousands of sites that rank well for a short period of time. Many of these sites make only a few cents a day, but multiplied by thousands or tens of thousands of sites, it adds up to a lucrative business.
Another problem is that many black hat optimizers openly steal content from legitimate sites. A thriving consulting business has sprung up to provide search engine optimization services. While many consultants use "white hat" methods (those that are not likely to lead to a penalty or ban), some use black hat techniques. For example, according to Google insider Matt Cutts' Blog the SEO consulting company Traffic Power was banned from the Google index. In addition, Google also banned Traffic Powers' clients. The worst black hat optimizers use techniques aimed at having their competition penalized or banned by the search engines.
We discuss search engine optimization, then examine black hat indexing techniques, followed by on-page and off-page methods. We also discuss how black hat optimizers manipulate the rankings of their competitors.
Search Engine Optimization
A search engine is simply a database of Web pages, a method for finding Web pages and indexing them, and a way to search the database. Search engines rely on spiders—software that follows hyperlinks—to find new Web pages to index and insure that pages that have already been indexed are kept up to date.
According to Wikipedia, "Search engine optimization (SEO) is a set of methods aimed at improving the ranking of a Web site in search engine listings..." These methods include manipulation of dozens or even hundreds of Web site elements. SEO can be broken into four major categories: key word/key phrase research and selection, getting the search engines to index the site, on-page optimization, and off-page optimization.
During the first phase a list of key words and/or phrases are developed. These are the terms a user would type into the search engine that would lead to the site appearing in the SERPs. In addition to developing a list of words and phrases, the SEO professional will usually determine how competitive each term is and how often each terms is used in a search.
Phase two is concerned with quickly getting the search engines to index the site. This is usually accomplished by submitting sites directly to the search engines, having a site that is already indexed include a link to the target site, or the use of black hat methods that are described below.
During the third step, the Webmaster or SEO professional will manipulate various on-page components, such as Meta tags, page content, and site navigation in order to improve the site in the SERPs. For example, a number of researchers, including Malaga, Raisinghani, and Zhang and Dimitroff have found that sites that make proper use of Meta tags achieve better search engine results. Zhang and Dimitroff also found that sites with key words that appear in both the site title and throughout the site's text achieve better search engine rankings than sites that only optimize the title.
Finally, the major search engines all consider the number and relevance of links from external sites to the target site. Therefore, SEO projects usually include a link building phase (also called off-page optimization). During this phase optimizers request links from Webmasters and may use link building programs.
References:
Search engine optimisation (SEO) services from FirstFound UK (2023) SEO. Available at: https://seo.firstfound.co.uk/new-seo/ (Accessed: January 24, 2023).
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