In September, 2005, the Wall Street Journal Online published an article describing a scenario that would be a nightmare for any online business: your web site suddenly disappears from both Google and Yahoo seemingly overnight. This is exactly what happened to many web sites owners who had hired Traffic-Power.com to perform search engine optimization for their site.

The problems started when the major search engines detected that Traffic-Power.com had been using illicit practices to optimize web sites. According to the Wall Street Journal article, they employed techniques like creating pages that are stuffed full of keywords (this is known as "spamming"), or even presenting content not really related to the site and then redirecting the visitor when the link is clicked (this is known as "cloaking"). We have been warning our readers against these practices for years.

Another illicit technique used by Traffic-Power.com was to artifically promote the Link Popularity of their clients' web sites by linking them extensively within their own network of sites. Search engines measure inbound links to get a sense of how popular a site is amongst internet users. Such networked linking strategies are attempts to give the impression that the web site is more popular than it actually is, and are frowned upon by search engines. This is in fact one of the issues Google is attempting to address with their most recent algorithm change, as described in a recent article we published entitled Google's Jagger Update.

In his blog about search engine optimization topics, Google representative Matt Cutts recently confirmed that Traffic-Power.com has been removed from Google's index, along with any sites that have been promoted by Traffic-Power.com. One lesson to learn from this is that you are responsible for any actions that SEO consultants you hire perform on your web site. Last year, we published an article here at Marketposition.com called Outsourcing a SEO program that makes the point that you should be aware of the SEO practices of any consultants you hire. Here's a quote from the article: "Full disclosure - Ensure that [your SEO consultants] are willing and supportive of keeping you 'in-the-know' on their SEO practices. Don't risk your brand and search engine marketing by being punished by suspect SEO tactics that some SEO companies unfortunately do employ." In light of the recent events with Traffic-Power.com, this is a good time to review the important points made in that article.

Another example of Google's determination to enforce the guidelines for inclusion in their index is the recent removal of BMW.de from Google. In this case, BMW.de was presenting a different version of web pages to search engine spiders than it was presenting to human visitors. This is another example of cloaking, a practice to be avoided. Of course, BMW.de was promptly reincluded in Google's index, due to BMW's "quick response" in getting these issues resolved. Keep in mind, however, that just because BMW.de was promptly reincluded in Google's index does not mean that every site will be treated the same way. In fact, most web sites that are removed from Google's index will have a difficult time getting listed again. Getting reindexed is a process that involves submitting a reinclusion request and it may take months before your site regains its visibility in Google.

Conclusion

Google and other major search engines are evolving over time, and the intelligence of their algorithms is increasing. The ability of the engines to detect illicit optimization practices is improving, and it's more important than ever to ensure that your web site is not employing any techniques that violate search engines' terms of service. As a web site owner, it's your responsibility to make sure that SEO consultants you hire to improve your site's visibility are not employing these techniques.

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