On average, only around 10 percent of internet surfers move to the second page in their Google search results if they’re unsuccessful at finding the information they’re looking for on page 1. This fact is especially true of users looking for medical information.
Unfortunately, low search rankings tempt some medical developers to try and cheat the system in order to raise their position rather than invest in quality search engine optimization.
However, Google recognizes cheaters and will punish websites attempting to inflate their search rankings. The search engine company does this through either banning or “down-listing” websites, which means returning a site back to its natural position in the search listing and then down a few spots more.
In order to avoid being banned or down-listed, it’s important to avoid activity that can get you down-listed. Here are 5 actions that could put you on Google’s naughty list:
- Not including backlinks
In order to make your site successful, you must be able to generate backlinks. Backlinks are when other websites link to yours, which Google sees as an indication of authority. To obtain backlinks manually, you can create content, guest post it on another website and include a link in the content to your own site. Note: While backlinks are helpful for your ratings, you should never purchase backlinks.
- Experiencing rapid growth
If you’re just beginning to gather or produce backlinks, avoid publishing them all at once. Google may consider this “unnatural growth.” Instead, allow your backlinks to generate periodically and naturally.
- Having bad links
This is particularly true of websites pertaining to health and/or medical fields. The links you have on your website should only be related to other medical websites. Linking to non-related websites could earn you a downgrade from Google. Other signs of bad links are those from a different country’s domain.
- Cloaking
This is the process of putting information on a website where visitors cannot see it but search engine robots can. Sites commonly get caught by Google for cloaking huge paragraphs of keywords.
- Spoofing
“Spoofing” is a technique in which the meta tags and other elements of a page suggest to search engines that the content of a site is about one thing when it’s really about another.
Google knows all the tricks. It is smart enough to spot those who are cheating the system and will inevitably punish those who break the rules. Tune into Part 2 for seven more reasons Google could down-list your medical website.