Last week, Google issued a warning to those who repeatedly use black-hat tactics to improve search engine rankings. Basically, if you’re violating Google’s webmaster guidelines, Google has threatened to manually demote your site — or worse — remove it from search rankings altogether.

Want to stay in Google’s good graces?  It might be time to take a fresh look at your website and make sure you’re playing by the rules. Some of the most common violations appear in Google’s list of quality guidelines. Read these guidelines over a few times and they start to sound a lot like the unspoken rules of conversation…

Stay On Topic

In other words, don’t confuse users with irrelevant content. Want to link users to another page? Great. Want to link users to a page that is completely unrelated to what they expected? Not okay.  Want to take a user to a page filled with spam and malware? Googlebot will track you down and demote your page faster than you can say, “I’m feeling lucky.”

Don’t Say the Same Thing Over and Over Again

Do you curate syndicated content and repost it on your site without adding your own unique spin? Do some of your pages have duplicate content?Unfortunately, you’re not doing anyone any favors — least of all, your website.  Every page of your website should have unique, original content.

Stick to One Story

If you’re showing Google’s search spiders and users two versions of the exact same web page, you’re cloaking — and it’s only a matter of time before your disguise catches up with you.

Keep It Clean

Links help guide people to content they might find interesting. The trouble with links these days, is they’re being bought and sold, They’re showing up in obscure places and leading people astray — and sometimes, they’re going nowhere at all. Isn’t it time we cleaned up our dirty links and moved on? Google thinks so. They’re even asking users to report people who engage in link schemes.

Don’t Be Programmatic and Annoying at the Same Time

Showing users specific content based on their needs, interests or past behavior, is generally a good idea. Having an automated robot write that content and fill it with related keywords — not such a good idea. General rule of thumb: show humans relevant content that has been written (or at least reviewed) by other humans.

Ok so…maybe that last one was a bit of the stretch, but you get the general idea. Web pages are designed to start and continue conversations — so it shouldn’t be all that surprising that some of the same rules of conversation apply here. As brands and marketers, we’re in the business of forging meaningful connections. Google is simply reminding us to engage in those conversations more naturally — or we’ll likely find ourselves at the very bottom of their all-important list.

If you’re unsure about whether your site is adhering to Google’s webmaster guidelines, a firm like ours may be able to help you by conducting an audit of your site. Contact us for more information.

            Bullseye Strategy is a certified Google Partner.  ]]>