When it comes to SEO there are hundreds of tips and tricks you can use to get more traffic to your website or blog. And while the list of things you can do is fairly wide open, the search engines do have rules and regulations that if broken will penalize your site or possibly get it kicked off that search engine all together.
Here is a list of some of those things you should avoid when trying to optimize your site.
1. Dont link to sites that are considered “bad neighbours”. These are sites that have either used black hat seo, spam, or some other scam that got them flagged or kicked off the search engines. Linking to these kinds of sites will put yours in the same category even if yours is legit and follows the rules.
2. Dont use invisible text or text that is so small visitors can barley read it. This is an old trick used to try to add more keywords and content per page. And while its okay to have different sized text keep it readable and easy to see.
3. Dont use duplicate content on your website to make it appear larger then what it is.
4. Avoid using doorway pages.
5. Dont have the same title for every page of your website. As well dont use the same description for each page.
6. Dont use irrelevant keywords. Your keywords should fit the content of your website. If its about fixing computers dont use keywords about cutting flowers, its just not smart.
7. Dont stuff your keywords. This means keeping your keyword use to about 5 percent of your pages text content. There are tonnes of free keyword density checkers available to calculate how dense your keyword placement is.
8. Dont over stuff your inbound links. While its always good to have inbound links connecting your web pages, it looks sloppy to have every other word as a link to another page on your site.
9. Dont use black hat SEO. Sure using black hat SEO tricks will work for you in the short term, the reality is that the search engine bots are getting smarter and they will find out eventually and your site will suffer for it.
10. Avoid scams, youve probably seen those sites that promise thousands of visitors to your website in minutes for a small fee, avoid them their garbage and a scam. While there are legitimate sites that do offer things like this its important to do your homework and go with your instincts. Chances are if it feels to good to be true, it is.
My website The Razors Edge ( http://www.therazors-edge.com ) covers a wide range of topics from general tips, reviews, videos, and basic SEO for those new to websites and blogging.
