How SEO Companies Could Ruin Your Business
The New York Times recently outed US retail giant J.C. Penney’s ‘Spam SEO secret’ creating a real buzz about ‘black hat SEO’ tactics which Google considers a dark art and tantamount to cheating.
Here’s the thing when it comes to SEO Companies and search engine optimisation, Google makes the rules and you don’t want to ever break them no matter how many shortcuts you might be tempted by.
If you are tempted by the dark side and break the rules, you might be lucky and have a honeymoon period of achieving fantastic results in the search results but it will be short lived and when Google slaps you with a penalty, it will be very costly to recover from.
J.C. Penney found out the hard way, after several months of ranking in the top spots for dozens of really competitive keywords like ‘home decor’, ‘furniture’ and ‘bedding’.
Google’s boffins eventually caught up with J.C. Penney’s SEO Company’s dubious tactics and the ‘corrective action’ of having their site go down in the rankings like a sinking ship was dropped on them. They are now currently not even in the top 50 for many of their keywords.
Now in J.C. Penney’s defense, they may have been absolutely unaware that the SEO Company they were working with were using ‘black hat’ methods. They were discovered to be using undisclosed paid links and link farms to achieve their extraordinary results, conveniently over the Christmas shopping period.
Could this Happen to Your Business?
Now let me explain, Google has an anti-spam policy that should never ever be violated and if you are deciding which of several SEO companies to work with, asking the question of how they will achieve results for you has to be asked.
In 2006 BMW’s German website was temporarily removed from Google’s search results for using ‘doorway pages’ which is another type of black hat method which Google feels deceives its users.
This is just one example and unfortunately many other online businesses may be involved in black hat activities including cloaking, keyword spamming, comment spamming, hidden text or even sabotaging their competitors by ‘Google Bowling’. This is buying spammy links for a competitor and then reporting them to Google.
Because some SEO Companies are paid on results, i.e. high rankings and often without disclosing how they achieve the results, there’s a temptation and often need to cheat.
How to Protect Your Online Business from Black Hat Seo Companies
- Never work with SEO Companies that want to be paid on results. Quality SEO with long lasting results takes time and investment but is well worth the wait. Paying on results means black hat inevitably comes into play as the cashflow drain on SEO companies using ethical methods would be too great.
- Read up on what Google considers spam so you can spot it if it’s being used on your site. Google provides these resources in its Quality Guidelines and Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.
- Ensure SEO companies that you’re evaluating disclose their tactics. If they’re ethical, there is nothing to hide. If they’re reluctant then this should be a red flag.
- Keep an eye on your site’s profile on the web. Check the sites that link to you and the quality of the links by using BackLinkWatch.com or Open Site Explorer.
- Don’t fall for SEO Companies that send you spam emails to offer their services, the chances are they’ll be using spam SEO too. The best way to find SEO companies is by referral, this can be either word of mouth or using social networks like Linkedin and Facebook. Otherwise you can do a Google search and look for a firm with testimonials and case studies that you can check out.
- Spread your online marketing across several channels. Because Google is always changing its algorithm, one change or spamming incident could affect your rankings instantly. So make sure you’re using affiliates, pay per click, social media, video, email and mobile marketing as well so all your eggs aren’t in one basket.
If you’d rather not worry about whether your site might get banned form Google and have your SEO done properly with sustainable results contact Wizard of Web today.
