It’s no secret that Google is the biggest search engine on the planet. Being the biggest fish in the pond does have its benefits, and more and more businesses are finding out the hard way that unless they adhere to Google’s policies; their online presence will begin to suffer. Google often roll out brand new algorithms to help to separate real, honest websites from those designed to provide false information and services via black hat website SEO techniques; and this in itself poses a major problem for businesses.

Many business owners won’t deny that they don’t have much knowledge when it comes to Search Engine Optimization, or SEO for short. The term actually refers to the way in which a search engine views the website, its content and where it should be displayed within search results. Search engines like Google hate sites that employ spamming techniques (with the over-use of keywords), as well as sites that attempt to mislead search results by using false meta-tags, alt-text and text descriptions.

SEO Barriers

In the old days, Google was only able to lower the ranking of these offenders, and many black hat SEO specialists would exploit other loopholes within Google to ensure that their website dominated their particular field. Over the past few years, Google have grown annoyed at these attempts to fool their systems, and the result is often a banned website that finds the metaphorical back of Google completely turned on them! If you’re offering a service for Orange Country SEO for example, then Google will only permit the keyword to appear once or twice in a piece of content, and more will draw attention.

The same can be said for any type of keyword usage, and Google’s recent algorithm has prioritized learning the difference between keywords such as ‘Orange County web design’ and ‘Orange County website design’ for example. As long as the keywords flow naturally and make sense, then Google bots will give the content the all-clear. This is something that many businesses struggle with, as it’s easy to inadvertently over-stuff a piece of content with keywords, especially if they are descriptive and necessary.

As Google’s policies grow stricter, it’s not uncommon for misinformed website owners to suffer the same penalties as those that employ underhanded techniques, and there’s really no room for error in 2015. Google now demand that a website should contain useful, relevant and informative content, where keywords are placed naturally so as to assist the Google bots while they scan the content within a specific web page. That means that anyone using black hat tricks like Private Blog Networking (where a user purchases a range of websites with the intention of linking back to their original site to create false links), will be punished severely.

What Can Business Owners Do?

It’s not just PBN sites that suffer either; in fact any websites that over-use keywords or mislead traffic will risk penalty. In fact there’s only one way to ensure that a website features highly within search results, whilst being prioritized by Google; and that’s with fresh, relevant content that’s tailored to your specific niche within the online community. Our Orange Country SEO techniques at The Clay Media are natural, effective and guarantee results, so if you’re a small business owner looking for a climb in the Google rankings, then get in touch wherever you are around the world and our friendly team of advisors will be on hand to help.