SMX Sydney | Avoiding Search Engine Penalties | Greg Grothaus-Google

EDITOR’S NOTE: See our online SEO Tutorial for current information on avoiding Google penalties as well as step-by-step instructions and free tools for search engine optimization.

I managed to have a chat to Greg last year on the boat ride, he’s great, awesome to see him back again. Let’s hear what he has to say on Avoiding Search Engine Penalties.

google.com.au/webmasters-Greg’s most important take away

• Ranking is the process by which S.E’s order results. In 2009 google released 500 ranking adjustments
• Penalties are downward ranking adjustments, reserved for removing spam, malware, phishing etc
• Penalties are a tiny fraction of ranking changes.

SPAM= Sites Positioned Above Mine.

If you are making pages only for S.E’s, you are on the wrong track.

Sneaky redirects are a form of cloaking. Poor quality links and paid links that are not disclosed are also examples of spam. Google is ridiculously good at this (according to Greg).

Avoid

• Reciprocal links
• Hidden links
• Bad neighbourhoods
• Outgoing links that could affect your reputation

Bad links simply won’t pass any value.

How Google handles spam

• Google will tell you through GWT that they think you are being spammy. Fix it and then submit a re-inclusion request.
• Prevent spam through captcha, moderating and being careful with logins and passwords.

It was a little disappointing that Greg’s presentation was almost exactly the same as last year, good for people who haven’t heard it, a little boring for people who have.

See Bruce's author page for links to connect on social media.