How Not to Get Banned from Google

No one wants to get banned from Google, but unfortunately, it does happen. As Michael Stebbins of Market Motive explains, it is important to understand why some websites do, in fact, get banned from Google in order to prevent it from happening to you.

First of all, he suggests using Google’s Webmaster Tools to know for sure if you are banned. The dashboard offers very helpful information in this type of situation.

To make sure that your site doesn’t get banned, Stebbins tells WebProNews that you should think like a search engine. In other words, you have to realize that they are looking for genuine relevance and genuine popularity. If you try to fake either of these elements, Google will not want to partner with you.

Some people fake relevancy and popularity by linking to questionable websites, taking advantage of JavaScript redirects, and selling links. All these factors could result in Google banning your site.

To get re-included in Google’s index, Stebbins says you need to first decide if it is worth investing time in the re-inclusion process. There are some cases in which users commit so many “mortal sins” that is nearly impossible to rebuild a relevant and popular website.

At this point, he advises users to invest in another a site and apply a 301 redirect from the old site to the new one.  However, if you have not violated many of the guidelines, Stebbins says you could send a letter detailing what you did wrong and how you have fixed it. By doing this, it increases your chances of getting back into the index.

Are you taking preventative measures to make sure your site doesn’t get banned?

How Not to Get Banned from Google

No one wants to get banned from Google, but unfortunately, it does happen. As Michael Stebbins of Market Motive explains, it is important to understand why some websites do, in fact, get banned from Google in order to prevent it from happening to you.

First of all, he suggests using Google’s Webmaster Tools to know for sure if you are banned. The dashboard offers very helpful information in this type of situation.

To make sure that your site doesn’t get banned, Stebbins tells WebProNews that you should think like a search engine. In other words, you have to realize that they are looking for genuine relevance and genuine popularity. If you try to fake either of these elements, Google will not want to partner with you.

Some people fake relevancy and popularity by linking to questionable websites, taking advantage of JavaScript redirects, and selling links. All these factors could result in Google banning your site.

To get re-included in Google’s index, Stebbins says you need to first decide if it is worth investing time in the re-inclusion process. There are some cases in which users commit so many “mortal sins” that is nearly impossible to rebuild a relevant and popular website.

At this point, he advises users to invest in another a site and apply a 301 redirect from the old site to the new one.  However, if you have not violated many of the guidelines, Stebbins says you could send a letter detailing what you did wrong and how you have fixed it. By doing this, it increases your chances of getting back into the index.

Are you taking preventative measures to make sure your site doesn’t get banned?

Google SEO vs. Bing SEO

Have you found your SEO efforts for Google and Bing to be similar or different?  According to Janet Driscoll Miller of Search Mojo, there are both similarities and differences when doing SEO for Google and Bing. She adds that Bing has many opportunities over Google but that it also has its share of challenges.

On the similarity side, one example is that the same sitemap can work in both Google and Bing. One example of a difference between the two is that with Google Shopping, it’s a free download; Bing Shopping on the other hand, is paid only.

In regards to on-page factors, Rand Fishkin of SEOmoz did an extensive study and found that, ironically, the on-page changes users make really do not boost positions in either Google or Bing. Instead, both engines place more weight on exact match domains and the variety of domains that users have inbound links from.

For Bing specifically, Driscoll Miller says a good rule of thumb is to have many inbound links coming from a variety of domains, as opposed to having lots of links coming from a single domain. Bing’s Webmaster Tools, which we are told will be getting a revamp soon, have a tool that places value on inbound links. This helps SEOs understand what type of links Bing values the most.

Although some people still only concentrate on Google, Driscoll Miller advises people to begin thinking about Bing.

“I think a lot of people have been somewhat ignoring Bing and probably shouldn’t, because it really does have some value, “ she says.

What are your SEO challenges for Google and Bing?

Coming Soon: New Bing Webmaster Tools

At SMX Advanced, Bing revealed a preview of its new Webmaster Tools. WebProNews caught up with Eric Gilmore, a Group Product Manager with Bing, who says the new tools were built completely from scratch.

According to Gilmore, the tools are all about design and scale. With the new modern architecture of the tools, Bing wants to give users more data, more relevant information, analytics, and more. Gilmore says the three main areas Bing focused on was crawl, index, and traffic.

In addition, Bing is ensuring a simplified user experience and rich visualizations. Interestingly enough, Gilmore indicates that the feedback from users was very instrumental in the development of the tools. He went on to say that Bing wants to create an “open dialogue” relationship with its users.

“We have a whole bunch of things we want to do, so this is just the beginning,” says Gilmore.

Bing is currently fine-tuning the tools before they are released in the coming weeks. For the latest updates, check out the Webmaster Center blog.

How to Increase Your Site’s Performance

Late last year, Google’s Matt Cutts told WebProNews that site performance would be a critical factor this year. Since that time, site performance has been a hot topic in the SEO community. Incidentally, Maile Ohye, also from Google, calls this area an “uncharted SEO territory” in a recent interview with WPN.

According to her, simple changes to the front end, such as how you order the style sheets and JavaScript files, can have a big impact on speed and, ultimately, conversions. She references a test that Strangeloop conducted in which it compared the site performance of an optimized site to the site performance on a non-optimized site. The test found that the optimized site had a 16 percent increase in conversions over the non-optimized site.

Ohye explains the importance of ordering style sheets and JavaScript files since it could save visitors seconds when visiting your site. She suggests having statements at the top that bring in the style sheets first followed by the JavaScript files.

For images, she advises webmasters to use image sprites, which are essentially single files that can have multiple images listed throughout the file. This eliminates the task of making file requests for each image. With sprites, webmasters can use CSS to choose which images should display where.

Although the topic of “speed as a ranking factor” has also been getting a lot of press lately, Ohye says users will not wake up one day and find the fastest sites with the highest rankings. She goes on to say that this element of ranking is more suited for sites that are so slow the users are dissatisfied.

Ohye also tells webmasters they can check their own site’s performance by applying the site performance feature in the labs section of Google’s webmaster tools. This tool will tell users how their site compares with all the other sites on the Web.

How is your site’s performance?

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