Google: Being Penalized for SEO

Google started in 1990s with the theory that the more people linked to a website, the higher value of the information. It worked for a while, but then came the links farms which are paid websites that have thousands of links to one or more websites, see how JC Penny used linked farms to cheat and be ranked #1 on the word Jeans.

Now, Google “owns the web” and tracks everybody/everything through Google Analytics and Google Chrome. Google doesn't need these links anymore (actually it needs them a lot less). Google tracks the value of each web page, of each blog post. Google knows if the page is fake, is spam, or is of real value by the actual usage.

Now Google has started to penalize websites with web pages that have “low value.” What's a low value web page? That's a web page where the user doesn't click around and/or doesn't stay long enough. Instead of Google trying to figure out what is spam or of low value, Google let the users decide what has value.

So what about SEO, the Search Engine Optimization? It's starting to go out of the window. Can you search optimize? Google does not like Search Optimization, they think that it's cheating the system, and actually it's cheating their system.

Many people are confused in thinking that titles, descriptions… are part of search engine optimization. These are not SEO, they are Google and Bing requirements, period. Just like filling your income tax is a requirement and there are penalties for not following the requirements.

Who will get affected the most?

  • Websites with WordPress Plugins like widget links, paid links, reputation management systems…
  • Websites that do link exchanges by partnering with other websites to exchange links with each other.
  • Websites that hide links in the CSS (the stylesheets of the web page) or Javascript.
  • Websites with too many links, or too many links happening too quickly. Google considers this is a sure sign search engine manipulation.
  • Websites with links from foreign language sites. I have been downgraded by Google because I have too many links from Italy and Russia, when I'm located in Canada.
  • Websites with duplicate or scraped content that is far “too similar” to other web pages that are published before your web page.
  • Websites that are hosted on web servers that have “too many” websites that are already penalized. This is even if you are not “indulging” with these tactics, you will be penalized. Not as much as doing it yourself but…

Please note that it is the website that is penalized and not just the web page.

How does Google track people on the Internet?

  1. Their “best” way, of tracking people, is through Google Chrome. Not only every website, and link clicked on, is recorded and sent to Google, it also keeps track of every keystroke which are also sent to Google which associate to the unique serial number of Chrome and your IP address.
  2. Google Analytics. It's a code embedded by the website developer into each web page that has a unique Google code per website. The website owner gets the summary information of all the Internet traffic…
  3. Searches from Google's web page by keeping track of the search and your IP address.
  4. Searches from the Find box on your web browser which most likely defaults to Google.

You also get penalized for excessive keywords.