If
you are a regular reader of
our newsletter then you know
that we only propagate ethical
search engine optimization methods.
While
it is possible to temporarily
get high rankings with shady
optimization techniques, search
engines will ban your web
site sooner or later if you
try to cheat them.
Among
other things, unethical SEO
techniques include doorway
pages, cloaking and hidden
links. In a recent
blog post,
Google's anti-spam engineer
Matt Cutts commented on hidden
and paid links.
What are hidden links?
Can Google detect them?
Hidden links are links that
can be seen by search engine
spiders but not by human web
surfers:
- White text on a white
background (or any other
text that has the same color
as the background).
- Links that have been changed
with CSS so that they are
extremely small.
- Linked periods in the
middle of a paragraph.
- Links in invisible CSS
divs.
If you use links like these
on your web pages then you
violate Google's quality guidelines
and you risk being banned
on Google by using these links.
It's likely that Google can
detect most hidden links.
While some hiding techniques
still might work, Google's
anti-spam team will probably
be able to detect them very
soon.
What are paid links?
Do they work with Google?
Paid links are simply text
links for which the webmaster
of the linked site paid. Paid
links can be used to advertise
your web site on other sites.
Most webmasters buy links
to increase their search engine
rankings. Unfortunately, Google
doesn't like paid links.
Google is currently working
on an algorithm that helps
them to detect (and downgrade)
paid links. Last week, Google
asked webmasters to report web
pages with paid links to the
Google spam team.
What does this mean
to your web site?
If you use hidden links or
other hidden content on your
web pages, you should remove
these web page elements as soon
as possible from your site.
The more spam elements you use
on your web site, the more likely
it is that your web site will
get a ranking penalty.
Paid links to your web site
won't hurt your website rankings.
However, it's likely that paid
links also won't help your rankings
anymore with Google's new algorithm
change.
Inbound links are very important
to get high rankings on Google.
That's why Google works so hard
on filtering the wrong kind
of links. If you want to succeed
on Google, you have to build
the right links
that will help your search engine
rankings.
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