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Banning

With Internet search becoming such big business, search engines are keener than ever to ensure the relevance of their results. Search Engine Optimizers have found many clever loopholes in the search algorithms which have enabled them to boost website rankings far beyond what would be justified on content alone.

The search engines have hit back by tweaking and sometimes completely overhauling search algorithms. A good example would be Google's Florida Update in November 2003. Search engines have implemented an array of measures to detect extreme examples of Search Engine Optimization from discounting those optimizations by lowering the site in the results pages through to outright ban from the index.

Website owners also review their competitors' sites and may report sites if they spot any underhand SEO practises. This can result in a review and ban if the site contravenes the engine's terms and conditions. This is probably the most common form of banning. There is a great deal of FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt) surrounding banning, including the urban legend that a competitor can set up 'spam site' and point links to your pages in order to get them banned. Google has made a statement on this which puts the rumour into perspective:

'There is almost nothing a competitor can do to harm your ranking or have your site removed from our index. Your rank and your inclusion are dependent on factors under your control as a webmaster, including content choices and site design.'

There is of course a rub in Google's statement. If your site is then using questionable optimization tactics to boost rankings the fact that someone has linked to your site may draw attention to this fact.

Basically anything that constitutes black-hat SEO can trigger a ban or penalization. Usually the first a site owner knows about a ban is a rapid fall off in traffic from the search engine in question. This is why it is essential to analyse website traffic and keywords as part of the optimization process. Outright bans are easiest to spot as the traffic from the search engine in question will flat-line. Otherwise you will simply notice a drop in traffic. Remember that a drop in traffic may not be anything sinister and could just be due to other sites targeting the keywords better or to some update to the search engine's algorithms.

Further Information

Report a site to Google: http://www.google.com/contact/spamreport.html

Banning

Further Information

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