If you are a business owner, you need to make sure your website is not being penalised by Google or any other search engine.
With the introduction of Google’s panda, penguin and hummingbird algorithms, the rankings of different websites have drastically changed. Every time a new algorithm is rolled out, many websites go from the first page to the abyssal depths of the 10th, 100th, or 1000th page, losing traffic and visibility.
Before we really get into the details, let’s get one thing out of the way – your brand’s popularity isn’t the parameter to decide if you can be penalized or not. This could happen to any website. However, by being informed beforehand about the actions leading to such consequences, you can save your site’s credibility and reputation.
For this, you need to know the risks involved so that you can minimise the probability of your website getting penalised in the future.
1. Low Quality Content
This is the factor which determines the credibility of your site. If the content you put up is unique and informative, your rankings will automatically escalate. But if your website has poor quality content that is copied or fake, the ranking will fall immensely. Google’s Panda algorithm penalised all those websites who had subpar content. Therefore, be extremely careful when it comes to the content you put on your website.
2. Unnatural or Irrelevant Links
These are the links present on your website with the sole purpose of gaining top Google rankings, instead of being useful to readers. These are unintelligent and fake links that direct the user to any other random and irrelevant site. Moreover, if all links on your website are directing the visitor to your home page, it will also be considered as unnatural.
3. Stuffing of Keyword
Unnecessary and unusual keyword stuffing alerts Google. It indicates that you’re trying to fool the system. When you put content on your website, the keywords it contains must be used in a natural way. Varying your keywords through keyword stemming is a good way to avoid the repetition of the same keywords over and over again and still get a healthy amount of highly searched keywords in there.
Checking Your Website Ranking
Website penalising is no rocket science. It’s simple and fair. Every search engine has clearly defined rules in this regard. Now, it’s solely up to you to abide by them and keep your rank high. The first effect will be on your website’s ranking on Google. If you notice there has been no change, you’re saved. But, if you see that your ranking has been affected significantly, you are being penalised.
Therefore, updating and checking your website’s ranking at least on a weekly basis is a good idea.
Checking Webmaster Tools
Check your website’s vulnerability to penalty by webmaster tools. This way, you’ll be able to manually diagnose your website’s problems and will be able to treat it before actually getting penalised.
Moreover, you must stay updated on Google’s algorithms to be on the safe side. Also, keep a strict check on your site’s ranking on Google. This way, you’ll notice any unwanted change related to your website’s ranking and you’ll be able to protect your website.
If you do not have the time or the skill set to look after legal issues related to your website, you should hire a reliable professional for managing the content on your website so that you can gain higher rankings and avoid being penalised in any way.