Interested in learning exactly about the top, illegal SEO tactics? Look no further!
Welcome to our first post on how to your own site banned! We’ll be diving deeper into each of these topics in the near future, but we know some of you are just aching to ruin your website. So, without further adieu, here are the eight ways to getting your site banned with SEO!
Illegal SEO tactics can get you and your site into some serious trouble.
One: Trademarked Words in your Domain
Some would-be SEO strategists have attempted to use a trademark in their keywords/titles/etc. Stay away from this illegal SEO tactic.
It’s important to get off on the right foot with SEO, so hopefully you’re just now looking into a great name your website. If your goal is to be the world’s worst SEO strategist, you will want to use someone else’s trademarked name in your domain. Names like GoogleChocolate.com, or FacebookBrewery.com are definitely illegal SEO tactics. Doing so is the quickest way to receive your very first cease and desist letter(congratulations!), and you’ll likely have your page forever flagged/removed by the major search engines as well.
Two: Using Trademarks in your Meta Tags
On top of using another organization’s Trademark in part of your domain, you’ll obviously want to avoid using a trademarked word/phrase in your meta and title tags. Some organizations have spent thousands on their trademarks to keep you from using them. And yes this still counts even if your end user can’t directly see them.
As far as illegal SEO tactics are concerned this is somewhat of a capital offense so don’t even think about it.
Three: Using Trademarked Words in your PPC Ads
Thinking of using a trademarked name in your PPC? That’s a highly illegal SEO tactic!
On the final subject of using trademarks illegally for SEO purposes you should never include them in your pay per click campaigns. However, if you’re truly interested in getting your site banned this is a great way to do it. Some possible benefits from pulling this stunt include being flagged by Google or a PPC Broker, being banned from PPC advertisements, and, of course, the good old cease and desist letter.
Four: Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing won’t get you thrown in prison, but if you’re just dying to get your site banned this illegal SEO tactic is one great way to do it.
The premise here is a simple one: fill your sentences and pages with repeated keywords.
Be smart about keywords. Do it right, and both your end users/readers and the meta-crawlers will love you.
Five: Link Farms
A link farm looks nothing like this, obviously, but it is one of the more serious, illegal SEO tactics to avoid.
Have you ever found yourself wishing you could just post full pages of nothing but links on your beloved website? If you’re aching to get your site banned, like any conniving SEO strategist, then have at it!
Nothing is more enjoyable than copying and pasting link after link for an endless length on your pages. Just think of the boost your page rank will reserve before its banned from the web. You should be proud, you’re on your way to being the worst in the world in great time with illegal SEO tactics like the good ol’ Link Farm.
Six: Doorway pages
One of the final illegal SEO tactics worth mentioning is the doorway page. Nothing makes a search engine happier than finding more keywords on a page before being redirected to the actual page (sarcasm). The great part is that your end user, who you clearly care so deeply about, has no idea of your brilliant trickery while you sneak a few extra keywords in.
So well done, SEO strategist of the year. The doorway page is quite literally your doorway to getting your site banned.
Seven: The Art of Veiled Text
Our second to last, and personal favorite, SEO maneuver is the veiled text. Simply match your keyword’s font color to that of your background and reap the benefits of a huge boost in traffic before a massive slap on the wrist from Google.
However, if you’ve mastered the veiled text, you’re among the elite. You’re also only one step away from the final step to becoming a spartan of SEO.
Eight: Cloaking
To perform a more skilled illegal SEO tactic, cloaking your web pages requires presenting different content to the search engine spider than to the user. You can accomplish this by delivering content based on IP addresses, or by the user-http header. Regardless, once you’ve set up your website to trigger content for the spider vs. the user you’ll be crowed the king of SEO and, of course, banned.
And that’s a wrap! You’re now a bona fide SEO strategist, and certainly one step closer to enormous fines and potential lawsuits. With this sort of knowledge you will be taking on clients in no time looking to also face legal action.
Happy Strategizing!
