Although these rules are not written down and posted for all to see, there are rules to SEO and how you run your site. If one or more of these rules is broken, your site and your business will be penalized for doing so. But how do you know when you have been penalized? What do you do to fix it? What was the infraction?
All of those are tough questions, especially if you are not experienced in SEO, and even if you are, there are some rules that you may be being penalized for and not even realize it. Since SEO is complex and, like any industry, there are reputable people to help you and those who readily give out the wrong advice. To avoid making a misstep in the world of SEO, there are a few things you should know. If you think you are being penalized for disreputable SEO habits, you will need to go through your SEO plan with a fine tooth comb before you resubmit your site. Check links that appear on your site: do they work? Do they lead to bad sites (i.e.: sites that use spy-ware or download viruses)? Check your keyword density: Do you use keywords enough? Do keywords appear in your title? Are you using to many keywords and are considered spam? If you are trying to display one thing to your users and another to web crawlers, then that is probably the culprit and you need to stop immediately.
Since there are many more things that need to be checked in a SEO plan, consider hiring a SEO service, such as Flatiron SEO Specialists. Your specialist will recognize possible penalty areas and know how to fix them. Additionally, creating an ongoing relationship with your SEO specialist will help you find problems while they are small. This will avoid waiting until the problems are huge and damaging your company.
No matter if you decide to hire a consultant or fly solo through the world of SEO, communication is king. Be clear with your audience, your SEO consultant, and the search engines. This will keep you informed of SEO strategy changes, changes in SEO guidelines, and of course keep your customers coming back to your site for the most up to date information out there.












