Have you even wondered why don't your website rank? Here is a list of 40 reasons:
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1) No Index
It's simple - you block search engines from accessing your website.
2) rel=canonical != URL
Your website address is different than you tell the search engine - it won't rank well.
3) Blocked by robots.txt
You've got Googlebot blocked by robots.txt? If this is true, you will never appear in Google.
4) Duplicate content
Unique content is a must! You reuse product descriptions? You copy articles from the web? It won't work!
5) Cloaking
Trying to hide content? Showing different information for Google and users? You will vanish from the SERPs soon!
6) Overoptimization (keyword stuffing)
Stuffing keywords? Google understands your content well - you don't need to write your keywords multiple times.
7) Spun content
Do you think you will pass under Google's radar with a couple of synonims? It's not a good strategy in 2013!
8) Hacked
You've been hacked? Get ready for a traffic loss from Google.
9) Advertorials
In case you haven't heard, buying advertorials is against Google rules.
10) Wrong redirections
301 redirect is the only way to do it right. Using meta refresh and other methods isn't a good idea!
11) Error codes
Your website should have 200 code in the header. If it's 403, 404 or other error, you won't reach top positions!
12) Bad domain history
Bought a domain? Perfect. But have you checked its backlink history? Maybe there are thousands of spammy links?
13) No Text
Google likes text. It relies on text. You should have some text on all of your pages. Have we already told you about the uniqueness of the text? Get more quality content now!
14) Spammy server
Bought a cheap hosting? Maybe you use free hosting? Don't be surprised if you are in a neighbourhood of 100 websites with girls, 200 casino websites and even more prescription drugs websites. You won't rank!
15) Slow speed
Is your website sloooow? You will lose your clients AND positions!
16) Bounce rate
Poor user experience? People run away from your site? Be sure the search engines will do the same.
17) No social signals
No FB likes? You don't know what Google+ is? You think only birds can tweet? Your competition will be so much better than you.
18) No images
Enrich your content with images. Describe them in alt tags and your positions will get better.
19) Your content is worse than competitors
You're not alone. I bet L100 that you have tens or even hundreds of competitors. Take care of your content and make it better than others'.
20)Title
The is the most important part of your website. Put your keywords in there.
21) Flash
Wow! Flash sites are so cool but you block your mobile traffic and Google. Can you afford decreasing your traffic by tens of percent points?
22) MicroData
Help search engines understand your content. Microdata is one way of doing it.
23) Many URLs to the same content
Many URLs showing the same content? Try to fix it. If you can't - make use of rel=canonical
24) Many domains to the same website
Many domains showing the same content? Redirect them to the one you want to rank.
25) 404s
You have blank pages indexed? Tell others they're empty and show them 404 error.
26) No Links
No links? Links are search engines' fuel. Get some links now!
27) Buying Links
Buying links was always a big "no-no" in Google terms.
28) Footer links
You have active links in the footer? Make sure they don't look like paid links.
29) Blog Comments
You think that blog commenting is a good link-building idea? Unless you live in 2008, it's not. It's a good way to contact bloggers but don't put keywords where you
30) Suspicious links
Do you link to suspicious websites? It's a bad idea.
31) Selling Links
One of the basic rules - you don't sell links at all!
32) Building links too fast
OK. You've started your link building campaign. Make sure you delay the growth and make it look natural.
33) Overusing guest posting
Guest posts are a good idea. Overusing them is not. If you plan link building, get them from various types of websites.
34) Blog networks
You buy links in blog networks? Do you really think that 10 blogs on tumblr, wordpress, blogger and others is a good strategy? It won't work!
35) Link networks
Oh, Matt Cutts will shortly get to you. Have you heard about AngloRank, Ghost Rank 2.0 and other link networks? Their clients have already been punished.
36) Sitewide links
A few sitewides will not harm you. Unfortunately, they look like bought links. If it is your main link building strategy, you are probably out of Google now.
37) Unrelated websites
Google is good at categorizing websites. If they are unrelated, then your links pass little value.
38) Low quality sites
Forum links, footer links, wiki links (doesn't matter if it's .edu or .gov.) or guest books? Google is ruthless against these tactics.
39) Internal nofollows
You lose your link juice. Block the unwanted pages using noindex or robots.txt
40) Anchor rich links
Most of your links have keyword-rich anchors? Have you heard about the Penguin algorithm change? If not, you will soon get into filters and lose your positions.
As you can see above, Google is quite good in terms of spam recognition. Instead of looking for shortcuts, write great content and play by the Big G's rules. Going black hat can rank you quickly but you will fall down even quicker.
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Hi Jack I am doing a new website for the first time. I may have someone do it for me as time is important and I am concerned about the changes to how Google Serps run as it relates to using SEO rules that may have changed since the last few years. Any thing you can advise me on will be greatly appreciated. What do you know about websites that are built using WordPress as opposed to the other platforms like Wix, Squarespace, Weebly and the others as it relates to ranking in the serps, on first page Google? Thank you Bellaslove
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thank you I really like how specific this article was on proper backlinks methods
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Tnx for the list!
Hopefully the implementation will get our platform a few steps further.
Sander
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Amazing post..
I always wanted to rank my posts on the top at least time .
This post will help me a lot.
Thanks for posting such a great article and to help me out.
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Website is still not ranked with my keywords – All seems to be fine.. Any clue?
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Thank you for highlighting all the dos and dont’s that needs to be followed to make sure that we don’t get Penalized by Google and other Search engines.
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Thanks for posting this. I have a website I am trying to get off the ground and all that is provided here is beneficial. I also love how you used the memes to help communicate everything. Made it even more interesting.
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Here you post a really great things.
This post is really helps who people are fresher to our Marketing Fields.
We value your post. can u suggest some good steps for the hummingbird update, I mean to say what we have to do for seo according to the hummingbird update of Google.
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This is a very informative post! As a blogger, I am always looking for ways to help my rank get a post the next time Google updates. If I just do the opposite of everything listed here, I should do just fine. I already knew about and adhered to many of this. There were some I had no idea affected my page rank. So, thank you for posting this.