SEO Techniques That Can Potentially Harm Your Website
I have a friend who asked me why his website suddenly disappeared in google search engine results when it was on top ranking the last time he checked it. My first reaction was maybe it was outranked by other websites but according to him, he applied effective SEO techniques in it. I decided to ask access of the website to see the source codes and I found out that his website got penalized for too much usage of keywords or keyword spamming by Google in his onpage optimization techniques.
Onpage optimization such as adding keywords in the title tag and ALT tag for images are helpful techniques to improve your visibility in the search engines but if we used abusively will harm your websites search engine ranking and can potentially get your website BANNED in google and other search engines.
The problems that I saw from my friend’s website were the following:
1. Title Tag Spamming
Title tag spamming is when keywords are repeatedly inserted in the title tag for the purpose of tricking Google to read it over and over and ranked it higher. Google’s bot are smart and constantly updated. Tricks like this does not work anymore and can get your website penalized that leads to banning.
Ex. <title>Web hosting solutions Web Site hosting, web hosting, get a web hosting, cheap web hosting, Web hosting solutions Web Site hosting, web hosting, get a web hosting, cheap web hosting, Web hosting solutions Web Site hosting, web hosting, get a web hosting, cheap web hosting</title>
Avoid title tag spamming at all time because this is a major crime in all search engines.
2. Alt Image Tag Spamming
Alt Image Tags are used as replacement for the actual image when your website is being browsed through smartphones or when the connection is slow. Adding Alt Tag descriptions and including the keyword helps improves your website’s visibility in the search engines but spamming the Alt Image Tag with your keywords will also lead you to banning. The visitors of your website may not notice difference in your website because you inserted your keywords in the alt tag images but Google will see it and will consider it as illegal use of keywords and will penalized you surely for that.
3. Adding Invisible Texts
Invisible texts are hidden texts in your website. You can do this by making the font color of your texts similar to the background. The web visitors will not see it but Google will see it and google may interpret it as a spam and you can get banned for it is considered keyword spamming.
Onpage optimization are essential but it does not mean that you have to cheat. Webmasters often misinterpret Onpage optimization as inserting keywords over and over again. It is actually not. Onpage optimization is merely just describing your webpage so that search engines can rank it by its usage and category.
For me, as a webmaster and article writer, GOOD CONTENT is still the best SEO technique. If your website has good content, Google will eventually rank it higher.
