How not to become an associate of black hat SEO: Choosing the optimal ad promotion strategy

SEO optimization is a thin ice, since this area of Internet marketing has its own limitations and specifics. In view of this, the supervisory authorities impose penalties for companies that violate the principles of ethical advertising using black hat SEO standards. However, the owners of organizations may face problems due to ignorance of certain rules. Not only small businesses face restrictions, but also large corporations. Therefore, in order not to get a reputation as a cheating brand, it is necessary to adhere to a caution.

What is a penalty and what does it threaten

Large advertising platforms independently set the criteria by which fraudulent content is evaluated. Subsequently, violations are detected using algorithms or manually. In the latter case, direct competitors of the company can play a big role. If it turns out that the violation was intentional, the blocking of the Internet page in the search engine will follow. In the future, such actions may lead to the ban of the brand on the advertising platform. The most serious is considered to be a human check, since such violations have nuances. In the case of verification by bots and special algorithms, misunderstandings and accidental blocks are not uncommon. 

How to avoid a penalty

No brand is exempt from getting banned. Therefore, in order to avoid a penalty, it is necessary to be aware of the tactics that many dishonest players abuse. There are several areas that advertising platforms pay the most attention to:

• malicious links,
• hidden advertising,
• bot spam,
• doorway pages,
• cloaking, etc.

Pay attention. The owner of any site can receive a penalty only because of a change in the algorithm. Such cases are common. You only need to give feedback to stuff who have issued a warning. Such system errors can lead to the loss of finances and the failure of an advertising campaign, which leads to a drop in the brand rating.

How to determine if a site has received a penalty

There are no general rules for detecting punishments in the network. However, the owners of companies should be alerted by a rapid or simultaneous downgrade in the search results. In this case, it is necessary to immediately contact the webmasters of the ad platform and fix the problem if it is caused by accident. When a penalty is issued in a manual mode, a mail is usually sent to the organization in order to warn and explain the situation.

Tip. Algorithmic penalties are sometimes difficult to explain. Therefore, you should involve into the work specialists who will be able to investigate the issue. Most often, attention should be paid to such systems as servers, hosting, links, keywords and metadata. Often, large brands turn to SEO companies that are always up-to-date with the latest updates and trends. They can prevent various violations in the optimization of a web resource.

How to avoid blocking

In short, a web page should meet several principles:

• accuracy;
• utility;
• uniqueness.

The last point is especially criticized, since there is a lot of plagiarism on the web. It is important that the website is actually original, and not only meets the conditions of technical uniqueness. To this end, creators engage authors to create honest and engaging content.

The site should also be user-friendly. In this context, it is necessary to pay attention not only to the visual design, but also to the speed of work and pages and scripts downloading.

Advantages of SEO agencies

Such organizations can help a company avoid blocking websites and even increase the brand’s rating on the web – by fair methods. Usually, such organizations are engaged in:

• consulting,
• creating targeted links,
• coming up with creative solutions,
• reputation management.

Employees of advertising agencies are usually focused on large ad platforms. Therefore, the main task of specialists is to bring the web resource to the first lines in the search results of big tech corporations. If this does not happen, then something is not working right. Webmasters apply analytical methods, make research of reporting, build creative texts, conduct management with the help of an advertising cabinet to achieve the best result.

At the beginning, the expert analyzes keywords – your brand and competitors. Then the specialist tries to understand the tactics of contenders in order to choose the optimal advertising step. After that, it is necessary to create an optimized website that will meet the identified requirements. At this stage, unique content and backlinks are created that can increase conversion.

How to choose a reliable SEO agency

An SEO organization must conduct a legal business and be officially registered. You can check the company’s reputation with the help of reviews from real users. However, they can be customized, pay attention to this. Some scammers are even able to steal other people’s portfolios. Therefore, be especially careful. As a rule, cooperation with brands (of any level) becomes a sign of success, which is usually indicated on the official pages of site owners. These are the best examples of works. It is desirable that the company provides a wide range of services and has a staff of highly specialized professionals. So, the probability that you will be helped in a non-standard situation is higher.

Do not ignore the issue of prices. Usually, SEO agencies provide a list of services and their approximate cost. But with a more detailed discussion, especially if the brand is large, and cooperation is aimed at solving non-trivial tasks, the price may differ significantly. But even in this case, the customer must be initially informed about this. The price issue is negotiated at the initial stage of work, and all the conditions for the provision of services are fixed in the contract.

If you are in doubt which agency to deal with, visit your favorite website and find contact information. You can also refer to rating lists or go to relevant resources and forums. So, you will be able to get acquainted with less popular, but no less reliable organizations.