Google web page optimization

Do you sometimes get search results that are unexpected and hard to explain? The reason for that might be that Google displays fake search results to fool spammers. This has a major influence on how you should optimize your web pages.


Elements that Google considers spam

Last year, Google has been granted a patent that describes things that Google might do when they discover web pages that try to spam Google with manipulated page content.

Google mentions the following spam methods in the patent: keyword stuffing, invisible text, tiny text, page redirects, META tags stuffing, and link-based manipulation.

Google's unexpected reaction to spam

The patent indicates that Google takes a close look at websites that are changed often:

"Systems and methods consistent with the principles of the invention may provide a rank transition function (e.g., time-based) to identify rank-modifying spammers.

The rank transition function provides confusing indications of the impact on rank in response to rank-modifying spamming activities. The systems and methods may also observe spammers' reactions to rank changes caused by the rank transition function to identify documents that are actively being manipulated.

This assists in the identification of rank-modifying spammers."

In other words: if a web page reacts too quickly to changes in the search results, it's more likely that the page uses spam techniques.

Here's a concrete example

A person optimized a web page and adds the targeted keyword in all the right places. Normally, the rankings should go up. If there's a suspicion that the web page might be spamming, the page might be downranked by Google.

If the newly added keywords are removed after the drop in rankings, it's an indicator that the webmaster tried to manipulate. If the newly added keywords remain on the page, Google sees that the changes on the page are for real. In that case, the page will gets its old (and better) rankings back.

What does this mean for your website?

Optimizing your website for search engines is okay if you create helpful content. Google is not against search engine optimization. They just don't like spamming.

When you optimize your web pages for new keywords that are related to your website, don't be afraid if the rankings of your pages temporarily drop. This is normal Google behavior and your pages will get higher rankings after a short time (usually between one and four weeks).

Google doesn't like spam. If you want to get results that last, you must use search engine optimization tools that play by the rules. You get these tools with SEOprofiler: