Ways Of Identifying And Preventing Bad SEO

In today’s world of online marketing and the outlandish amount of visibility it provides, it can be easy to fall into the trap of just dabbling in SEO and thinking it will pay for itself in a matter of days. The truth of the matter is that all and any work that gets put into SEO can end up becoming a problem in three seconds flat. Without constant monitoring, all the work we put into optimizing our site can go down the proverbial drain and actually do more harm than good. This is why it is imperative to familiarize ourselves with common problems and learn how to deal with them.

Spotting The Problem

Before jumping the gun, it’s important that we’re aware of the areas that tend to be problematic and are able to spot them. The first and obvious way to notice bad SEO is the sudden drop in traffic, the other would be a warning from Google themselves. If your site has grown an abundance of broken links, spamming or content milling, rest assured that you will be warned. The same goes for keywords they tend to fluctuate and should be monitored at all times to adjust to the market. And, the most malicious of all – fake link removal requests. Simply put, someone is trying to trick you into removing quality links from your site, tanking it in the process.

Perform Regular Link Audits

This will be your first line of defense, checking your links on a regular basis will help prevent future headaches. It can get tedious, but safety should always be our primary concern. By performing regular audits, your business will have enough time to adjust to any problems that might occur and to deal with them effectively without impacting your SEO ranking. Otherwise, we expose ourselves to that awkward “boss conversation” when Google decides to give as a little one-on-one. Link audits only work if they’re carried out constantly, if you get an unnatural link warning – it’s already too late.

Monitor Site Speed

As one might be aware, a site’s speed directly influences its SEO ranking. Keeping an eye on said speed should be on top of the priority list to ensure smooth sailing. Any changes in site speed should be looked into thoroughly to determine the culprit. If lucky, it will be a fluke or something you can mend. If not, if nothing can be found, then the site might have fallen victim to a practice called forceful crawling. This malicious tactic essentially overloads your server which can even lead to crashes. This is a giant red flag and contact your webmaster right away to figure out what’s going on and find the culprits.

Look Into Webmaster Email Alerts

When setting up everything with our Google overlords, there is a nifty little option called Email Alerts. This little option is easy to set up and gives site owners a real-time notification every time something out of the ordinary happens. These include malware and spyware attacks, any kind of server side problem or any penalty from Google themselves. Aside from the last one, all the others provide owners with enough time to act on these threats accordingly instead of finding out about them two months later when they already see a drop in their rating.

Root Out Content Scraping

One of the biggest no-nos of Google’s ranking policy is the spreading of duplicate content. With this being such a glaring issue, it is extremely important to hunt down duplicate content and have it taken down right away. There are a number of tools like Copyscape or businesses like Websitesthatsell SEO Company that specialize in these kinds of cases. Another option is to file DMCA and be extremely thorough with the details. After all, this site is a business, there is no reason to pull any punches when faced with attacks like these that could literally capsize everything – hit them where it hurts.

Rinse and repeat

Now that these are out of the way, remember to do this often. Everything online is in a state of perpetual fluctuation, there is no telling what tomorrow might bring. This is why constant overwatch is mandatory to keep a business afloat, both for good and bad SEO. It’s a never-ending fight, or if you’re more of a Greek mythology person, it’s the equivalent of Sisyphus pushing his boulder up the hill. However high we may rise, the world will always try to pull us down, and it’s up to us to see whether we’ll buckle under the pressure or soldier through it like our main man Sisyphus.