4 Signs Google Thinks Your Site is Spam

March 25, 2008 by James
Filed under: Internet Marketing 

If your website is missing from Google’s search results then it might be because Google thinks it tastes like spam! Here are 4 signs that might make Google think your site is spam:

(1) Long Hyphenated Domain Names. Spammy high-demand keyword phrases in domain are also ‘bad’. Owning too many domains is also often a problem (yes, they can check.) Domains using new or young extensions like .info, .cc and so on are also flags to Google. Low quality domains often use those newer extensions. And don’t keyword stuff your sub domains either…

(2) Crappy Content. Sorry, didn’t feel like sugar coating this one. Too many ads. Too many high-demand commercial keywords. Too much ‘free’ content scraped from other sources. Low quality sites usually don’t have any unique content. Also, low quality sites tend to be anonymous with no contact info. If you don’t have a real address and a few other ways for people to find you, this is probably hurting your credibility.

(3) Bad Links. Linking to spam and other low quality sites. Low quality sites tend not to have quality incoming links. Need I say more?

(4) The Wrong Trousers .. er .. Technology. Redirects through JavaScript and MetaRefresh is a bad idea. Cloaking is the kiss of death. And hidden text is a quick trip to index oblivion.

Bottom line, if your website exhibits any of these 4 signs then there is a good chance Google and other major search engines have you flagged as spam and your days are numbered.

Redesign your site and start playing nice. Create content for people, make it useful, make it easy for people to read and search bots to parse. Avoid “clever” tricks and remember that if no one can find you… YOU DON’T EXIST!

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