Avoid Google Penalties? 4 Don'ts for SEO

[jrineakter]

Web editors and SEO specialists who suddenly see their ranking in the search results plummet often make website adjustments and reconsideration requests to lift a Google penalty. Every few months, Google performs updates to its algorithms, and almost as often, a select group of people panic. Amazing, because if you think a little, you can limit the negative SEO consequences of an algorithm update. By creating a future-proof SEO strategy and optimizing your content now for the search engine of the future.

Or in other words: by anticipating future algorithm changes. Four things you better not do to be on the safe side, if you want to avoid a penalty from Google in the future .

1. Publish clickbait
Let's start by saying that there egypt telegram number list is nothing wrong with writing headlines that generate clicks. Writing headlines is a craft that brings together the seemingly contradictory arts of arousing curiosity and informing.

Things are different when a headline deliberately misleads readers. A headline like ' OMG She Left Her Boyfriend Alone With Her Dog, You'll Never Guess What He's Been Hiding From Her!' often fails to deliver on its promise of excitement and thrills. And that this leads to irritation among readers is evident from the positive reviews of plugins like Downworthy .

For this reason, Facebook has announced several times that it will take action against clickbait . And although Google's Matt Cuts was still moderate about this phenomenon in 2006, given the importance his employer attaches to quality content, it is only a matter of time before the search giant changes its opinion on this matter. You will never believe the impact that has on your search engine ranking!

Clickbait
Source: Wikimedia Commons

2. Artificially boosting page views
One of the disadvantages that publishers of clickbait are already experiencing is that the bounce rate of this type of content is almost as high as the percentage of clicks. Google already interprets this large number of visitors who leave disappointed as a sign that the content is not relevant, and this does not benefit the search engine ranking of these pages.

Many websites try to get around this problem by artificially keeping the number of page views high. By creating landing pages, where readers have to click through to actually view the content, for example. Or by dividing a 200-word article and spreading it over six pages. Non-clickbait websites do it too, probably with advertising revenue in mind.

With a few exceptions – an image-heavy page from a content publisher who thinks about the data bundle of their mobile visitors, for example – this is of course not good for the UX of a website. And that is an increasingly important part of search engine optimization.

Pageviews
Source: Flickr

3. Spreading hoaxes
Hoaxes and urban legends have been around forever, but the spread of misinformation has been faster than ever since the rise of social media. From Indian tales about thief signs , to Romanian gangs making off with key rings at gas stations, to false celebrity death notices .

The origins of these kinds of messages are diverse. Sometimes they are simply the work of fantasists. Increasingly, they are helped into the world by bloggers who do not check their information, after which they are taken over by other sites. And in a world where the influence of traditional journalism is decreasing, with its 'check and double check' and 'one source is no source', it is becoming increasingly difficult to determine which reporting is true.

It is therefore not unthinkable that Google will give preference to information that is based on truth. By paying attention to things like source references, for example, and the reputation that a website has built up in the past. All in all, enough reasons to be careful with the information that you spread.

Don't spread hoaxes
Source: Wikimedia Commons

4. Poor content curation
Although the future for traditional publishing does not look very bright, the diminished activities in this sector are being taken over by other companies. Content is king, and for more and more companies publishing is becoming a second business. When it comes to budgets, however, the differences between the traditional and the new publishing world are becoming much smaller again.

It often has to be as cheap as possible, and that doesn't always lead to the best results. Content that is written at the headquarters in America, for example, and then translated one-on-one in other countries. Without taking into account cultural differences, and with headlines that betray the fact that the cheapest translator was chosen. ' Five reasons why the drafters of the nationalist law missed the point ' , for a story about the Patriot Act, for example.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with reusing content as efficiently as possible in different countries, but there will come a day when Google Translate algorithms will be able to recognize a bad translation. And to beg penalty points.