SEO. Getting Websites Indexed And Keeping Them Indexed.

Article written by: J. Halliwell

Many web publishers, both new and seasoned alike, are in the
dark about getting their sites indexed in the search engines
and keeping them there. While in the past webmasters were able
to throw up sites with no real value and manipulate the system
to get them ranked, today's landscape is vastly different.

The same "tricks" that previously worked will now get you
banned faster than you can say "banned". But, now even trying
to work within the misty guidelines set out by the search
engines themselves can also leave you penalized and scratching
your head. Over-optimization can cause your site to drop in the
rankings and even disappear altogether. Look no further than
Google's "sandbox" for proof of a deliberate effort to punish
publishers for trying to make an end run around them with SEO
work.

Incoming links were long considered a measure of a site's
popularity, and the search engines regarded them as such as
well. But, as publishers with dubious intentions began
instituting links pages with the sole purpose of raising their
site's popularity and ranking, these same links can now have a
negative impact. Reciprocal links MUST have relevant sources.
If your site is one that deals with pizza, links from gambling
sites will only hurt you.

Some of those nefarious aforementioned "tricks" that are NOT
preferred and mostly likely will get you banned:

Cloaking - Showing a version of a web page to users, and a
different one to search engines with the intention of getting
ranked.

Hidden Text - Repeating keywords to improve ranking in the
search engines, and having those keywords be the same color as
the background.

Duplicate Content - Creating multiple pages with the same
content to draw in more visitors.

Doorway Pages - Pages not created for visitors but for search
engines.

Redirects - Getting a web page listed under a search query that
is not relevant, by redirect.

The SEO Golden Rule of one search engine: "If you attempt to
get a web page ranked ... for a search query that is not
related to the topic of the web page then you run a high risk
of having that page banned."

The one lesson in all of this is to stop relying on tactics and
tricks. Return to the days of informative well-written content.
Your site is there to provide some service, remember that and
focus on it. As far as we are concerned, the one Golden Rule
should be this: "Keep Users In Mind."

About The Author: J. Halliwell is a long-time expert in the
fields of SEO, web publishing, web hosting, and web marketing.
You can see some of his expert opinions on web hosting at
Brilliant Web Hosting - http://www.brilliantwebhosting.com