Thoughts on Over Optimization for External Factors

[SEODinosaur]

After seeing todays WBF I am going to start loosing hair.

Is it better to go back and try to fix everything? this way it does not look like an attempt to manipulate the search engine? However, by doing this I am still going to lose my rankings because of all my good links are gone. These links are placed in relevant forums and they are helping people learn more about their search.

I feel like Google is being a hypocrite here, when SOPA wanted to control the internet (and Google) they flipped out and got all nervous people will lose jobs. They argued with our government that many people will lose jobs if they regulate the internet. Well is google not doing the same thing? they are being extremely strict and punishing sites that are over optimized. Especially since a large amounts of companies pay an SEO company to do their work. For every site that loses rankings someone or some people are losing jobs. Thanks Google you "really" complained to SOPA for the people.

This really sucks because Matt Cutts himself said that external linking factors will not matter.

If I lose my rankings because Matt Cutts lied, I will be pissed. Many other will be pissed as well. This is when Negative SEO companies will open.

Instead of hurting bad SEO tactics they are helping them. Now black hat companies can offer negative SEO, thanks Google!

This is your greatest update yet!

[Mcarle]

External ranking factors have ALWAYS mattered. Link farms have never been seen as whitehat SEO.

I'm not worried that they are cracking down on forum links, it is obvious that the guys who put a damn signature link in every damned post are trying to manipulate SEO. In many of the forums I have seen this the other 1000+ people in the forums make fun of them and taunt them for doing such.

The broader theory of this whitebaord Friday is don't do SEO for SEO's sake do SEO for HUMANS sake..If your SEO plan annoys humans then you will be penalized. Negative SEO has also been around since the fun days of  Google bombing...

Google does not want to control the internet, they just want us to STOP trying to control the internet  

Every time we zig, they change the algo to zag...

If you have used links farms and paid directories in the past stop using them take down what you can, gain new varied text  links from other sources & when the penalties hit, watch your site rise as other fall...

[SEODinosaur]

I’m worried because I don’t want to lose my rankings due to an external factor (aka competitor) Most of the competition I had were doing black hat stuff and they are all gone. However they were doing black hat stuff. It’s only a matter of time before they realize what they are now capable of.

[McTaggart]

I once did a blog post and ended up with several hundred exact match pieces of anchor text hitting an internal page (I did not syndicate content but a major blog took my post, wrote about it, linked back to my website, syndicated cotent). If you look at the link profile on my site you get less than 150 backlinks coming in on even the most popular page, then a mad spike on an internal page. I wonder if that pattern alone may flag an over-optimization penalty?

PS> One thing I'm learning about this SEO lark is white hat can become grey hat can become black hat. You have to be very strategic, though that's sometimes virtually impossible!

[SEODinosaur]

I cant tell you the answer to that, there are too many different opinions on the matter. What do they count? what dont they count? Now they are indirectly claiming to count what other can do to your site as well. In other words hurt your rankings. (aka negative SEO)

[McTaggart]

For the first time I've been approached by somebody wanting to do negative SEO, which isn't a good sign really. From what I understood, this involved pointing hundreds of horrible backlinks from porn/gambling sites. Let's hope my competitors don't bite!

[randfish]

I'm working on trying to bring that practice to light and, hopefully, help stop it (if possible): http://www.webpronews.com/can-your-site-lose-its-rankings-because-of-competitors-negative-seo-2012-04

[randfish]

Hi Donnie - my point with today's WB Friday video is to hopefully suggest and help site owners to make their sites shiny and clean, so that even if some bad links point your way (everyone gets some bad links - they're a natural part of the web) or someone from Google manually reviews your site or a compeitor sends a spam report to Google about you, you'll be largely immune.

Having a site that focuses on fantastic user experience and mixes in a balance of good keyword targeting, accessibility and SEO best practices is the best way to avoid any untoward action. I'd only be really worried about this update if you've been doing serious manipulative link acquisition and spammy on-site tactics that you haven't cleaned up.

Best of luck!

[McTaggart]

That's good to hear Rand - I'm checking my backlinks a little more often since that encounter...

[Mcarle]

Exactly, I think that many web designers/SEO people go one way or the other...

Spammy meta tags

Garbled text

Repeated title tags

Those footers that list every cityand keyword in the dictionary

And ALSO link farms & bought links...

Most GOOD SEO designed sited avoid those things, so Google can see if all the sudden a bunch of weird spam links show up from "Porn sites or link farms"

If sites start dropping because of negative SEO Google with evolve again to combat that, just like they evolved from google bombing.

[SEODinosaur]

This is a very brave move Rand! I must say. I really hope this case study pans out. After all what were doing as good SEOs is helping the web evolve via education/entertainment/experimentation/etc.. the list goes on. If Google can really decipher good from bad while understanding and preventing malicious attacks I will be very happy. Thanks for your response.

[SEODinosaur]

BTW. most Forums by default show your signature on all posts you comment on. Unless you change this from the user settings, or un-check the box manually for posts they will show.