Search Engines may impose penalties on sites that are found abusing their Strategies. They do this by applying Filters that can damage your rankings or even result in your site being banished! Being aware of how Search Engines do this and what their criteria are will ultimately help you in the long run.

The one-way filter searches may be through Text. Filters are not bad things in essence, as long as you adhere to the rules your site will be safe and your rankings good. Just don’t try to cheat the system and you will be fine.

What Not to Do

1. Don’t include Hidden Text on your site. If you are including hidden text that is not very easily read by Search Engines and helps inflate your websites keywords, you most likely will be caught.
2. Abusive link building .Be selective about what and where you advertise and what you link on your site as this may affect your popularity and ultimately your ranking.
3. Placing Links on your page, which is considered abusive or illegal. Self explanatory really, but some are listed further down for your consideration.
4. Placing Spam on your site.
5. Cloaking is another example of what not to do. Cloaking entails showing two sides of the coin, one side to the Search Engine and another to the human element looking at your site.

If a Search Engine catches you in their Filter you still have a chance to clear yourself and correct the problem though. Understand that you are not always guilty of doing something wrong if you have ‘tripped’ a filter. You just need to investigate the reason, fix it and then request the Search Engine to include your site again in order for the filter to be removed.

What does a Search Engine Classify as Abusive?

Obviously the illegal stuff we mostly know about, but the Abusive stuff also needs to be investigated and explored fully so that you don’t end up in trouble. Very briefly:

• Any content that is defamatory, harassing, abusive, obscene, contains viruses or is in anyway objectionable.
• Uploading or transmitting content that is harmful to another’s’ intellectual property or proprietary rights which is an illegal act.

Apart from posting, advocating or advertising abusive junk on your site, Cyberspace has opened a great big nut of possibilities for crime opportunities. It offers a safe, warm environment in which criminals can hatch and grow in relative anonymity. It enables the perpetrators a chance to infiltrate unsuspecting people with little chance of being caught. But, understanding how they work and implementing tools to help you stop them will ultimately help your site remain popular and in the Rankings.

What classifies as Illegal Stuff? Any and all things that will result in jail time or very heft fines when caught. Child Pornography, Murder for Hire, Scam artists using stuff like Cybercrime, Phishing, Spyware and Malware are just a very small drop in the ocean.

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