Google penalties are a big headache for business owners as the recovery process for any number of violations can be quite complex. While some penalized businesses knowingly used illegal search engine optimization tricks for their small business websites in Scottsdale, others were completely unaware that their SEO techniques were in violation of Google’s rules.

In our last blog post, we covered 5 of the 10 most common reasons businesses receive Google manual action emails, including pure spam, cloaking and poor redirects, hacked websites, keyword stuffing and parked domains. In this posting, we will complete the list of reasons for Google manual action emails and offer ways that you can recover:

6. Poor Hosting Services or Dynamic DNS Providers. While there may be free hosting services or dynamic DNS providers out there that offer decent service, more often than not, they are a poor choice for your small business website in Scottsdale as they contain a high percentage of spam within their content. Businesses specializing in online marketing in Scottsdale and other areas throughout the country generally recommend that you avoid free hosting and dynamic DNS hosting. Instead, opt for a virtual dedicated server or your own server.
7. Low Quality Content. If your small business website in Scottsdale has page after page of low quality content that offers very little value to users, this can be a cause for violation. For example, if you use thin affiliate pages, doorway pages, automatically generated content or copied content, you will likely come under Google’s radar pretty quickly. In order to recover from a penalty and avoid this situation in the future, improve your small business website in Scottsdale by adding content that is valuable, interesting and relevant to your target audience. Aim for 700 to 900 words of quality content on each page of your site in order to gain the most from your search engine optimization efforts.
8. Unnatural Inbound Links. If Google notices that your small business website in Scottsdale is receiving a pattern of unnatural, artificial, deceptive or manipulative links, you will be penalized. To Google, these patterns tend to signal that a site is using links that pass PageRank or that the site may be participating in unethical SEO techniques. If you received this penalty, immediately run a link analysis to determine the good from the bad. Once you know where the bad links are coming from, work with a search engine optimization specialist to have them removed or disavowed.
9. Unnatural Inbound Links. If Google notices that your small business website in Scottsdale is sending a pattern of unnatural, artificial, deceptive or manipulative links to other sites, you may be penalized as well. Google views these patterns as a signal that the site may be selling links or providing link juice to low quality sites. If your small business website in Scottsdale is linked to advertorials, make sure that they are clearly marked as ads. If you aren’t linking to advertorials, work with a search engine optimization specialist to see if you accidently linked to sites that have caused you to receive a penalty. An experienced search engine optimization professional can help you to find these sites quickly, so you can no-follow them and submit a request to Google for reinclusion as soon as possible.
10. User-Generated Spam. Efforts for online marketing in Scottsdale are damaged when user-generated spam appears on small business websites. This spam often appears in comment sections of blogs and forums as well as other areas throughout the site where users are able to generate content. In order to avoid a penalty, it is best to hire a company specializing in online marketing in Scottsdale to monitor your site and clean up any and all spam. Some preventive measures for user-generated spam include moderated comments, community flagging and verified registration. If you believe that another site is abusing Google’s quality guidelines, please let Google know by filing a spam report.

This list of penalties as well as the ones covered in our previous blog make up the 10 most common reasons that small business websites in Scottsdale receive Google manual action emails.

If you have received a penalty, it is important that you act as quickly as possible in order to regain your search engine optimization ranking. It is advised that you work with a company specializing in online marketing in Scottsdale as they have a lot of knowledge and experience with Google, and offer you the best chance of a speedy recovery. If you are interested in professional help to recover from a Google penalty, trust in the experts at Fasturtle. With over a decade of experience, our online marketing specialists have gained a wealth of knowledge on the inner workings of Google, and can help you to avoid and recover from penalties. For more information, call Fasturtle at (888) 468-8785 or contact us online.