Search Engine Spamming - Top 5 tricks to avoid

Weeding out the search engine spammers.

SEO Spam Tricks - Jump to Step

Weeding out the spammers 1 - Automated submission software 2 - Keywords - the Empire write back! 3 - Hidden pages and redirects 4 - Hidden text and the use of colour 5 - Cascading style sheets (CSS)

Chasing the top spot on Google and other leading search engines has become big business in recent years. Many companies have emerged offering search engine optimisation (SEO) and website promotion services, making the choice for the consumer ever more difficult.

Here we show you how to spot the charlatans and show you some of the more dubious techniques used by some companies to supposedly ‘promote’ your web site.

The word ‘Spam’ is more commonly associated with the practice of sending bulk unsolicited email messages to groups of people. Most of us have had innumerable messages in our inbox promising ‘get rich quick’ schemes and medicines that will enhance every aspect of our lives for little money.

Recently however the evil spam has become synonymous with the darker side of search engine optimisation methods. As the SEO business has boomed to accommodate the desire of website owners to be found on the net, more devious methods of achieving the top spot have become prevalent.

So why do we have a problem with this? After all, as the saying goes, ‘all’s fair in love and, hmm, website promotion!’

Well the reason is simple. Search engines are catching on to these practices quickly, and will often entirely remove offending websites from their index. Algorithms for the major search engines are being modified continuously, so one day’s acceptable practice may be another day’s spam.

Playing within the rules has become a MUST for anyone that is serious about web site promotion. Be wary of companies that ‘guarantee’ top rankings for your site or choice of keywords on the major search engines. Such a claim is almost impossible to make, and will invariably mean that ‘spammy’ short-term high-gain techniques are being used.

For this reason it has become essential that consumers are informed before making the decision as to who to entrust with their search promotion campaign. We’ve compiled a ‘Top Five’ of the most common SEO spamming techniques so you can make a truly informed choice of how to promote your baby!