(Article Updated
July 2005)
Article by: DiAl
Design - Web Designers and Search Engine Optimisation
Specialists Australia
- © 2003
Within this Article:
The
state of Search Engine SPAM in Australia
What
is Search Engine SPAM anyway?
What
Do the Search Engines Say About SPAM?
Is
Your Website compromised?
How
do you know if your website is SPAMMing the
Search Engines or not?
Do
you care? Should you care?
What
are the risks of Search Engine SPAM?
Is
there a better way to go than using Search Engine
Spam techniques?
Is
your website Search Engine Friendly?
How
do I learn to optimise my website to be more
search engine friendly?
When
do I hire a Search Engine Marketing consultant?
How
do I choose a Search Engine Optimisation Firm
or Marketing Consultant?
What
can I do to combat Search Engine SPAM?
With Search Engine Optimisation
and Marketing set to be one of the hottest sectors
in the Internet Marketing industry in the year
2004 it is wise to assess the playing field
cautiously.
Many Australian Businesses
are waking up to the fact that Search
Engine Optimisation & Marketing can provide
an excellent return on investment (ROI).
But, before you jump on the bandwagon and hire
a Search Engine Optimisation or Marketing "expert"
there are some things you should know.
This article is written in
an attempt to alert Business and Website Owners
in Australia (or anywhere really) of some of
the dangers, pitfalls and issues to consider
when attempting to position your website well
in the Search Engine ranking results. Resources
for further research are provided below to help
you make your website more user and Search Engine
friendly.
Note: The terms Search
Engine Optimisation (SEO) and Search Engine
Marketing (SEM) are used throughout this article
where it seems natural to do so. Many firms
overlap their services in these two areas within
the Internet Marketing industry. Very basically;
SEO addresses the website and SEM may focus
more on Paid for services where it is not necessary
to change the website. Other Internet Marketing
and consulting firms address a larger picture
which may included off-line advertising as well.
It is with some dismay that
I look across the presence of Australian Businesses
on the search engines. I study and research
the search engine marketing field on a daily
basis (and have done so for the last 6-7 years)
and continually find websites that are using
techniques that are "unprofessional"
in their approach to positioning on the search
engines.
Many competing Australian
websites come up short when assessed for:
- clean and valid coding (not search engine
friendly); and
- "best practices" in marketing
and search engine guideline compliance
My experience also suggests
that most website owners are totally unaware
of what is being done in their name by their
web designers/marketing firms; they seem unaware
of the risks or simply don't care! These include
large Australian Corporate and Government departments
as well as Small to Medium businesses of all
varieties. It is the same for all industries.
What alarms me most is the
self-promotion and high public regard and credibility,
extended to some of Australia's so called "top"
search engine optimisation and marketing firms
and "experts".
The number of Search Engine
Marketers that adhere strictly to the guidelines
laid down by the search engines and strive for
ethical presentation at all times is far smaller
worldwide than the amount of Search Engine Marketers
that are not so guided. Indeed, many previously
ethical operators have simply given up and joined
the Spammers in frustration at seeing their
client websites pushed down in the Search Engine
Results under pages full of SPAM.
Search Engine SPAM
is what the Search Engines themselves define
as SPAM. There
may be gray areas that create contention amongst
marketers and website owners. Your own judgement,
gut feeling and sense of fair play should always
guide you. Adherence to the Search Engines'
published guidelines and standards will help
you avoid any trouble and also inform you about
what the search engines consider to be quality
websites and what to avoid.
As with any industry that
is not bound by regulations it is a difficult
playing field for both website owners and Internet
Marketers. There has been a great deal of discussion
and heated debate within the Internet Marketing/Search
Engine industry about the areas of standards
and best practice. However, to date, there has
not been an organisation or individual that
has been able to set up a definitive set of
guidelines under which Search Engine Marketers
could badge themselves.
Despite this, there
have been a number of useful attempts to define
SPAM in detail. For example, a notable paper
by Alan Perkins "The Classification of
Search Engine Spam" http://www.ebrandmanagement.com/whitepapers/spam-classification/
is well worth reading.
The Search Engines are very
clear (in most cases) about what they consider
to be good and bad practices for web design
and search engine marketing. It is well worth
taking the time to study the help and guidelines
pages provided to see whether your website measures
up to their quality standards for inclusion.
For the most part the search engine indexing
process is handled automatically with sets of
rules (algorithms) in place to weed out what
is not wanted as well as to serve the ranking
order of results when visitors perform a search
query.
You may see many websites
and webpages within the search results that
are enjoying exposure but do not live up to
the search engines stated guidelines. This,
however, could change tomorrow as the
search engines strive to keep their listings
clean and relevant
by adjusting their SPAM filters and continually
refining their processes. Most search engines
will also manually review and remove websites
and pages that are flagged as troublemakers
or are caught out and reported by the searching
public. (This could be competitors, unhappy
searchers or "ethical" marketers willing
to work with the Search Engines in an attempt
to keep the playing field clean).
Human edited directories
such as Yahoo,
DMOZ,
GoGuides
and JoeAnt
along with a vast range of regional and industry
specific directories also have strict guidelines
for submission and inclusion. These guidelines
are most likely found on their submission pages
and should be followed strictly. Becoming a
"known spammer" may cause your domain(s)
to be flagged, and excluded from their indexes
for life.
Google
is currently the most popular Search Engine
and provides website owners with comprehensive
guidelines, information and help. http://www.google.com/webmasters/
Google lists some
of the things (but not all) they consider to
be SPAM
http://www.google.com/webmasters/guidelines.html#quality
" Quality Guidelines
- Basic principles:
These quality guidelines cover
the most common forms of deceptive or manipulative
behavior, but Google may respond negatively
to other misleading practices not listed here,
(e.g. tricking users by registering misspellings
of well-known web sites). It's not safe to assume
that just because a specific deceptive technique
isn't included on this page, Google approves
of it. Webmasters who spend their energies upholding
the spirit of the basic principles listed above
will provide a much better user experience and
subsequently enjoy better ranking than those
who spend their time looking for loopholes they
can exploit."
Google also dedicates
a page to help you assess Search Engine Optimisation
companies offerings: http://www.google.com/webmasters/seo.html
Other Search Engine Guidelines
& SPAM links include:
MSN Search: MSN
Search Guidelines for Successful Indexing
Items and techniques
discouraged by MSN Search:
The following items and
techniques are not appropriate uses of the index.
Use of these items and techniques may affect
how your site is ranked within MSN Search and
may result in the removal of your site from
the MSN Search index.
- Loading pages with irrelevant
words in an attempt to increase a page's keyword
density. This includes stuffing ALT tags that
users are unlikely to view.
- Using hidden text or links.
You should use only text and links that are
visible to users.
- Using techniques to artificially
increase the number of links to your page,
such as link farms.
Yahoo! Search: Yahoo!
Search Spam & Deletions - Guidelines on
Spam
Yahoo!
strives to provide the best search experience
on the Web by directing searchers to high-quality
and relevant web content in response to a search
query.
Pages Yahoo! Wants
Included in its Index:
- Original and unique content
of genuine value
- Pages designed primarily for
humans, with search engine considerations
secondary
- Hyperlinks intended to help
people find interesting, related content,
when applicable
- Metadata (including title and
description) that accurately describes the
contents of a web page
- Good web design in general
Unfortunately, not all web
pages contain information that is valuable to
a user. Some pages are created deliberately
to trick the search engine into offering inappropriate,
redundant or poor-quality search results; this
is often called "spam." Yahoo! does
not want these pages in the index.
What Yahoo! Considers
Unwanted:
Some, but not all, examples
of the more common types of pages that Yahoo!
does not want include:
- Pages that harm accuracy, diversity
or relevance of search results
- Pages dedicated to directing
the user to another page
- Pages that have substantially
the same content as other pages
- Sites with numerous, unnecessary
virtual hostnames
- Pages in great quantity, automatically
generated or of little value
- Pages using methods to artificially
inflate search engine ranking
- The use of text that is hidden
from the user
- Pages that give the search
engine different content than what the end-user
sees
- Excessively cross-linking sites
to inflate a site's apparent popularity
- Pages built primarily for the
search engines
- Misuse of competitor names
- Multiple sites offering the
same content
- Pages that use excessive pop-ups,
interfering with user navigation
- Pages that seem deceptive,
fraudulent or provide a poor user experience
YST's Content Quality Guidelines
are designed to ensure that poor-quality pages
do not degrade the user experience in any way.
As with Yahoo!'s other guidelines, Yahoo! reserves
the right, at its sole discretion, to take any
and all action it deems appropriate to insure
the quality of its index.
It is the website
owner's responsibility
to ensure that their Internet presence reflects
the same high quality and standards of their
bricks and mortar businesses. As with any business
decision, investigation and due diligence should
be undertaken before hiring anybody. Understanding
the basics of what is required to build a search
engine friendly website is not that difficult.
It may seem that the industry is full of mumbo-jumbo
and techno-babble and some unscrupulous marketers
will indeed see to it that this is the impression
to be had.
Leaving it up to any so-called
web development and search engine marketing
"professional" without making an attempt
to find out exactly how you will be presented
can be a huge mistake.
Just as in any other industry
you will have the cowboys, hucksters, charlatans,
tricksters, schemers and scammers as well as
the professional, ethical, fair and honourable
practitioners. It's up to you to find out whom
you are dealing with.
Do some homework, it's your
dollars you are spending, so
buyer beware!
Familiarise yourself with
the published guidelines of the Search Engines.
Take heed of their Guidelines and take careful
regard of the absolute definitions of what the
Search Engines themselves consider to be SPAM.
Make sure before hiring that your web developer,
Internet Marketer or Search Engine Optimisation
firm adheres to industry best practice and works
within the search engine guidelines. Always
contact their current clients, check search
engine ranking results and find out what technologies
and techniques have been used to obtain these
positions.
Similarly, if you have
a current website, make sure you understand
exactly what has been done to your pages and
check for problem areas.
Some useful tools
include: "View
Source" - checking the source code of pages
can help you detect such things as keyword stuffing,
invisible text and links. Run the pages through
a HTTP viewer such as "Rex Swain's HTTP
Viewer" at http://www.rexswain.com/httpview.html
or a text viewer such as the Lynx Viewer at
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview.html.
These can help you to see what the search engine
robots see and will alert you to problems such
as cloaking, redirectors, bad coding, and hidden
text or links.
Perform searches on
www.google.com
and www.ixquick.com
using a prominent snippet of text from the pages
to detect duplicate information, backdoor domains/pages
and redirects. The allinurl function on Google
is useful to see all of the pages indexed for
a domain, (simply type "allinurl:www.domain.com")
and the site search will help if looking for
a particular search phrase, (site:www.domain.com
search phrase).
If you feel that this is beyond
your capabilities to assess or you lack the
time, seek out either a known "ethical"
Search Engine marketer or any of the search
engine forums that advocate industry best practice
and seek help there. You will be sure to find
people that will freely assess your site and
quickly check it for questionable areas and
practices. Perhaps they may be able to provide
valuable advice and insights into alternatives
that will keep you out of hot water for the
long term.
If you value your business
reputation you
should care!
Your presence on line is as
important as any other aspect of your business
presentation. If you are using questionable
search engine marketing techniques you stand
to lose not only your credibility with the search
engines and directories but your credibility
in the eyes of your competitors, clients and
future prospects.
It is known that Internet
Marketing for such industries as the gambling
and adult industries is an extremely rich target
for some marketers and they will push the envelope
to the extreme with little or no regard for
the monetary cost of doing so.
It alarms me to see
legitimate businesses in Australia presenting
in like manner. Surely this is not the image
we wish to present to the world. A fair days
pay for a fair days work (and vice versa) has
long been an Australian catch-cry. Where have
the days gone when we can proudly hang our hat
on our principles and be accountable and transparent
in our business affairs? Where
is the "true blue" & "dinky
di" Australian spirit in the Search Engine
/ Internet Marketing arena?
If you play the
SPAM game, know the risks.
Search Engines and directories can and will
ban or penalise websites that go against their
guidelines and I have seen this happen many
times. You may be able to enjoy increased traffic
and business for a short period. What succeeds
today, however, may be a total failure tomorrow.
You can be sure that the search engines are
continually adjusting their SPAM filters in
their efforts to protect their databases and
provide users with relevant results that are
free of trickery.
Loss of credibility with the
search-engine-using public, your competitors
and your peers will occur when your site keeps
coming up irrelevantly in search results or
flooding the results with duplicate information.
It is also possible that SPAMming
can lead to a loss of a business/domain name.
If a domain name has been irreparably damaged
by questionable Search Engine Optimisation techniques,
it may become necessary to change your domain
name in order for you to recover and make a
fresh start: a very costly exercise in terms
of public relations, printing costs etc.
Yes there is!
For long term high rankings and positioning
in the Search Engines there is always a better
way to go than using SPAM techniques. It's all
in understanding that a website is purely a
channel for communication between your business
and your target market. In providing adequate
information that is accessible, clear and thorough
and being visitor-centric a website owner, web
designer/marketer can often find that their
websites become search engine friendly and position
better at the same time.
There are no "tricks".
It's not difficult. It's all very simple and
very, very logical.
"That's all very easy
for you to say", you may say. Seriously,
though, there are no secrets.
It is all about providing
information that people are searching for and
making it usable, findable and easily accessible.
The search engines strive to provide quality
relevant results and working with them is a
good thing to do!
There are many things that
can hinder a websites performance in the Search
Engines. There may be foundational and structural
problems that can easily be corrected or worked
around.
Here are some barriers
that are commonly found that can cause obstacles
to usability for visitors and search engine
accessibility.
- Websites within frames
- Websites with dynamically generated
pages (database driven sites)
- Websites with elements such
as flash, java applets and dynamic navigation
- Websites that are developed
with content management systems (CMS) or WYSIWYG
editors such as Microsoft's Front Page etc.
- Websites that have bad coding
and errors
- Websites that have poor navigation
- Websites that are graphics
intensive with little or no supporting text
content
(Includes Websites with textual content trapped
within graphics)
- Websites that use "SPAM"
techniques as defined by the search engines
There is much information
available for free on-line and there are many
forums dedicated to the subject of Search Engine
Optimisation, Internet Marketing and Search
Engine Friendly Website Building where you can
find experienced folks and experts in the field
only too keen to help you on your way.
You can tap into Webmaster,
Search Engine & Web Marketing Help Forums:
Many businesses simply do
not have the time, resources or desire to learn
all of the "ins and outs" of website
design and development or Internet / Search
Engine Optimisation/Marketing. In most cases
it is simply a case of measuring how much your
time is worth. For example, you can learn how
to mend a broken pipe, but for most people it
is simply more time efficient and cost effective
to call in an expert plumber that will get the
job done in five minutes. If you don't have
the time to learn, hire a competent Search Engine
Consultant.
If developing a new website
the best time to hire a Search Engine consultant
is right at the very beginning! If the website
is designed with Search Engine Positioning in
mind as an end result much can be achieved in
the foundational stages, thus reducing your
costs in the long term.
Finding the right Search Engine
Optimisation firm for your business will include
such factors as trust, (you will most likely
be establishing a long-term relationship), cost,
track record, methodology and Industry specific
knowledge.
There are many articles and
resources available to help you in your decision
making process. Below are just a few:
If you see something that
is clearly not right or relevant in the Search
Engine Results you can report it to the relevant
Search Engine. They welcome public feedback
and are concerned about providing quality relevant
results to their searchers.
Google explains:
"If you believe
that another site is abusing Google's quality
guidelines, please report that site at http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html.
Google prefers developing scalable and automated
solutions to problems, so we attempt to minimize
hand-to-hand spam fighting. The spam reports
we receive are used to create scalable algorithms
that recognize and block future spam attempts."
This means you may not
see instant removal but you can be sure that
Google views and acts on SPAM reported to them.
Below are a few other contact
addresses:
The best defense against
a competitor's SPAM techniques is to continue
to improve your own website
by adding more quality content. This simply
cannot hurt you. Continue to make your website
the best that it can be by adding useful information
for your visitors. Streamline your navigation.
Create positive messages and a call to action
throughout your page elements. Whatever you
do, don't join the Search Engine spammers!
The cost for spamming
is higher in the long term and you can win even
if your website is a tortoise and theirs is
currently looking like a hare.
© 2003 (Updated
July 2005)
DiAl
Design - Web Designers and Search Engine Optimisation
Specialists Australia
Reproduction of
this article without permission is prohibited.
Contact: Dianne
Scott DiAl Design
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