An article by Keith Barrett

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be a great, cost-effective way to ensure that the maximum number of visitors reach your website. Unfortunately, if SEO is done badly, it can have serious negative consequences.

I've seen the effects of a poorly managed SEO strategy and they can be very bleak. If SEO is done badly then it can lead to penalties, including getting your website completely excluded from the search engine listings - here are 5 of the most common mistakes:

1. Not thinking about SEO when designing the website. It's vital that optimization is seen as a central part of your design and build strategy. A poorly designed and structured site will be very difficult to optimize, even for the very best SEO experts.

2. Trying to get as many inbound links as possible. Although many search engines, notably Google, favour sites that have a large number of inbound links, the key is to concentrate on getting inbound links from sites that are relevant to your own website's content.

3. Trying to gain inbound links too quickly. These one needs clarifying - you should, of course, try to get some quality inbound links. What you shouldn't try to do is to gain thousands of links as soon as your site launches - this is almost certain to be flagged by the search engines.

4. Using hidden text or links. An old school "black hat" technique and one that is best avoided if you want to see good long-term results.

5. Cloaking. This is the concept of attempting to show the search engine spiders a different version of your site or page to that seen by your visitors. Once again, this is a black hat technique that will lead to penalties.

There are plenty of legitimate methods of optimizing your website. If you are approached by an SEO 'expert' recommending using any of the techniques listed above then they are best avoided.

You can find out more about improving your web presence by visiting Search South, where Keith Barrett is employed as a search engine consultant. This article may be used by any website publisher, though this resource box must always be included in full.

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