There is a lot of talk on the internet about all of the different SEO related items that you can do to your website to help your pages rank better in the SERPs, but you don’t often read about the things you shouldn’t do. These items are probably some of the most important SEO rules to consider because getting a bad reputation with Google or the other search engines can make all your other SEO work worthless.
With that said, here is a list of things NOT to do with your website:
- Don’t link to any obvious spammer sites or “bad neighborhoods”. These would include link farms and other obvious link schemes.
- Avoid using any hidden text or hidden links.
- Don’t use cloaking or “sneaky redirects”
- Don’t use “doorway” pages that are designed just for search engines
One other very important thing to not do is to create pages that have little original content. If a webpage is just a bunch of affiliate links or is made from a “cookie cutter” page, Google has made it very clear that your site will be penalized. Your goal should always be to add value in some way for your visitors. As long as you do that and avoid the items listed above, you should stay in the good graces of the search gods!
