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There will always be SEOs who try to trick Google’s algorithm, but Google is always on the hunt to penalize dirty tactics. Despite the Google algorithm updates, many people still use these sneaky tactics in hopes to better their rankings. Black hat techniques will eventually catch up with you. So heed this words of wisdom.

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Create spam on forums or blog comments. Solely build exact match anchor text links. Hack sites to inject links.

Have an Unnatural Link Profile

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Cloaking refers to showing different content to the Google bot and your visitors. This can be easily uncovered when the Google bot doesn’t identify itself.

Cloak and Use Hidden Text

Putting SEO text in hidden divs or making it white on white for instance is easily detectable.

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Using other peoples’ information with proper citations is fine, but if you’re copying entire chunks of content, or worse, whole websites you’re not going to fare well.

Steal/Duplicate Content

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Spun content creates a poor user experience and even if they do land on your page, they’re not likely to convert. Google is also getting much better at detecting spun content.

Spin Content

Keyword stuffing doesn’t do anything extra to help Google understand what your page is about, in fact it’s more likely to flag it and push it down in search results. Google relies on many other signals to gauge the relevance of your content.

Stuff Keywords

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There’s no point in creating a fake listing on Google Maps. What’s worse is that if you’re found trying to game the system, you’re likely to lose rankings.

Spam Google Maps

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There’s no sense in building out content-thin sites that only try and rank for a few keywords. The Panda Update wiped these out and they’re no longer a viable method for building links to your main site.

Create Microsites

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Just like buying links is punishable, so is selling them. Obviously you can try not advertising that you sell links on your site, but there are certain patterns that can still indicate that you’re doing this.

Sell Links

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If your site is overrun with ads and especially if it’s light on content, you’re not likely to provide a good user experience. Not enough space devoted to real content is something that Google has relatively recently become very good at detecting and punishing.

Go Overboard on Ads

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This practice is more common than you think. Many businesses create multiple sites so they can occupy more of the spots on search results. There are multiple ways

Create Multiple Websites to Rank for the Same Business

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(automated and manual) to detect this. Checking for matching C-blocks is one example. If you’re exposed you could lose rankings for all of your sites.

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Follow these commandments and you’ll thrive with each algorithm update!