We always encourage good SEO tactics and there are good SEO companies in the marketplace. But, along with these good companies, many unethical SEO companies are springing up around the country. They employ bad SEO tactics which are not allowed by top search engines and only provide short-term gains. They promise to promote and increase website conversion overnight and improve the client’s website rank in Google. It all sounds so good. It is easy to fall victim to this spin. These bad actors in our industry are also referred to as “Black Hat” companies.” They prey on website owners who do not understand search engine optimization techniques. Signing up with these companies and allowing them to work on your site can get your site banned from Google.
Keeping your site source code secure and private:
This blog post is to caution our clients against offering website access to any outside entities. First check with your web designer, developer or your webmaster. Ask your webmaster if they are familiar with the SEO company soliciting you. Never allow site access before doing your due diligence. This could save you later on and save your website investment as well. Check out the SEO company’s reputation and ask to look at other sites they have worked on. Contact the site owners and find out if the effort by the SEO professional has made a difference. Check their stats over a period of at least six months.
What happens when bad SEO companies access your site?
Once you have given website access to these individuals, they begin to change every page of the website, using methods and tactics not allowed by the search engines. Many techniques which became popular in the past is now, no longer allowed. These methods offer only short-term gains. Although the client may experience a short-term jump in traffic, as soon as Google is aware of these “black hat” techniques, the site is then banned from Google. These folks can do irreparable harm to your website. Over the past two months, several clients have come back to us to have their site files re-done in an effort to overcome the damage done. However, once the damage is done (even when we re-load a clean copy of the site) the old banned info is retained as long as the search engine retains their own content. We do not control the schedule for search engines to dump old data and upload the new info. If this damage occurs, the client may wait a long time to re-establish their good reputation.
Depend upon your webmaster for safe SEO suggestions:
Stay safe by avoiding anything that might not follow the guidelines that search engines detail for webmaster. Depend upon only those you have known and have worked with such as your own webmaster or developer to make gains in search engine rank, etc. They will know and be able to recommend safe SEO techniqies to consider.
Breast Cancer Awareness News:
October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Our team at Inside Design Orlando are joining others here in Orlando on October 25th on a walk for Breast Cancer Awareness. We are proud to be a part of this most important campaign to fund new research.
Have a great October ahead and stay tuned for more next time … Jean Holland-Rose, Chief Creative Officer & SEO Professional
