Black hat SEO tactics include strategies like cloaking, hidden text, doorway pages, keyword stuffing, interlinking, and duplicate sites. A lot of these techniques are illegitimate and they seek to optimize search-ability while unfairly cheating the system. These strategies create an uneven playing field for the entire web. Google has rolled out a new update known as the “Penguin” which will seek to discourage and penalize the page rank of sites who allow these black hat SEO techniques which violate Googles terms and conditions. The goal of the update is to protect searchers from becoming victims of these manipulative tactics. The main way that the Penguin update will select its prey is by targeting sites with unnatural, inbound, and spammy links.
The main concern most people have is how their site can avoid being harmed by the Penguin. The answer to this question is simple… don’t be spam! Follow the rules and guidelines set forth by Google and keep your content original and legitimate. Keep each aspect of your website, from the comments section to every other relevant area, as clean and useful as possible.
A few techniques listed below will help your site to avoid the penalizations.
Do not plagiarize other sites content. You must learn to keep everything as original as possible and avoid duplication.
Create compelling and readable material that is high quality and grammatically outstanding. Doing so will encourage your readers to share your content and the linking will occur safely and naturally.
Do not pay to buy back-links. This technique puts your site at high risk. Only get quality links from truly relevant sites.
Remove inbound links from spammy websites. Failure to do so will directly result in a decreased page rank. Linking to your own site through forum and blog posts is a bad idea from here out.
Be advised that comments on your own page that directly link to a site the Penguin has targeted will also get your own site penalized. Consider yourself warned!
By following the rules and working to avoid spammy content, your website has the potential to improve overall and experience no penalization whatsoever from the Penguin update. Spend a good amount of time analyzing quality websites and in your own way create the best user experience possible for your viewers. In the end you will receive a big Penguin pat on the back.