Search Engine

Optimization
(CSET489)
Module 3
DR . PR AB HISHEK SINGH
ASS ISTANT P R OFES SOR
SC S ET, B ENNETT UNIVER S ITY, GR . NOIDA, INDIA,
PR AB HIS HEK.SINGH@B ENNETT.EDU.IN, +91-8874797830
What Is Negative SEO?
Negative SEO, also sometimes called “black hat SEO,” involves the use of malicious tactics on
your site to tarnish your reputation with Google and steal search engine rankings for important
keywords to be used on a competitor’s site.
In the past, negative SEO may have been as simple as hijacking your site with questionable
banner ads.
However, today’s negative SEO has become much more complex and sophisticated.
 Examples of Negative SEO
Link farming: Bad actors can point low-quality links to your website from sites created solely for the purpose of housing useless, spammy,
unrelated links.
Posting duplicate content: Copying and pasting your content and publishing it on multiple sites all over the internet is one of the easiest
methods spammers use to penalize your site.
Modifying content: This involves running invisible scripts from the header or footer templates.
Creating fake social media profiles: Spammers often choose to attack through social media, creating accounts on Facebook or Twitter
with a company’s name and publishing negative reviews or posting low-quality posts to ruin their reputation.
De-indexing the site: This involves changing your robots.txt file in the server to remove you from search.
Forcefully crawling: Slowing down websites is an easy way for negative SEO practitioners to cause damage. By forcefully crawling the site,
taxing the server load, and ultimately crashing the site, negative SEO practitioners can decrease or de-rank your site.
Committing click fraud: A specially programmed CTR bot looks for the site’s main keywords and branded terms, then clicks on the listing,
only to quickly bounce back to the search engine request page. The site gets dropped once Google surmises the site’s owner may be trying
to “game the system.”
Adding malware: If malware attacks your site, Google may warn users that “this site may be hacked” before forwarding, causing traffic to
plummet.
How To Secure Your Website Against
Negative SEO Attacks
1. Enable email notifications from Google Search Console.
Now all information and issues pertaining to your website can be kept in the forefront of your mind. Once
you see what is going on, you can employ more advanced strategies to prevent negative SEO, including
monitoring website backlinks, disavowing (or removing) suspicious backlinks, and securing your website
from malware/hackers.
2. Keep an eye on your backlinks.
Online visibility management platforms like Semrush help you monitor your backlinks through an email
summary of changes. Building backlinks to negatively impact websites from low-quality websites is a
favored tool of negative SEO practitioners.
3. Closely watch your important backlinks.
Again, a keyword tool is invaluable. Mark your most important backlinks and ask to be alerted when they
are removed. You can contact the webmasters of the sites and ask to have valuable backlinks restored, so
you do not lose search status.
4. Safeguard your website from hackers and malware.
There are easy and affordable steps you can take to do just that, such as:
Using a strong administrator’s password
Employing two-factor authentication when available
Maintaining an up-to-date website
Installing security plugins (if you’re a HubSpot user, read about the tools built-in security here)
Establishing an automatic backup system
5. Look out for content thieves and copycats.
Copyscape (https://www.copyscape.com/) can help you find other copies of your content elsewhere on the internet if they
exist.
6. Keep an eye on your social media mentions.
Play an active role in social media administration through your social page dashboards. HubSpot, Hootsuite, and Social Mention
offer social listening tools that alert you whenever your name is mentioned on social media. When mentions are made, be sure
you address any concerns directly and promptly to keep bad publicity from spreading.
7. Speed up your website loading time.
Google Analytics alerts send you emails when your website loading time slows down, so you can identify when and why it’s
happening. You may need to enable caching, remove resource-hogging plugins or add-ons, optimize your image sizes, get rid of
excess code, or take steps to block spammer activity.
What Is Duplicate Content?
Duplicate content is defined as content that is an exact copy of content found elsewhere.
However, the term duplicate content can also refer to almost identical content (such as just
swapping a product, brand name, or location name only).
Simply swapping a few words out will not necessarily save a page from being deemed as
duplicated content. As a response, your organic search performance can see a negative effect.
This type of content also refers to content that is the same across multiple webpages on your
site or across two or more separate sites. However, there are many methods to prevent or
minimize the impact of duplicate content that can be handled by technical fixes.
Google get confused what to index and what not to. Because of multiple same kind of
webpages.
Methods to Prevent Duplicate Content
Taxonomy: As a starting point, it is wise to have a general look at your site’s taxonomy. Whether
you have a new, existing, or a revised document, mapping out the pages from a crawl and
assigning a unique H1 and focus keyword is a great start. Organizing your content in a topic cluster
can help you develop a thoughtful strategy that limits duplication.
Canonical Tags
Meta Tagging: Meta robots tags are useful if you want to exclude a certain page, or pages, from
being indexed by Google and would prefer them not to show in search results. By adding the ‘no
index’ meta robots tag to the HTML code of the page, you effectively tell Google you don’t want it
to be shown on SERPs.
Parameter Handling: URL Parameters indicate how to crawl sites effectively and efficiently to
search engines. Parameters often cause content duplication as their usage creates copies of a
page. For example, if there were several different product pages of the same product, it would be
deemed as matching content by Google.
Methods to Prevent Duplicate Content…
Duplicate URLs: Several structural URL elements can cause duplication issues on a website.
The most common ways that duplicate versions of URLs can occur include: HTTP and HTTPS
versions of pages.
Redirects: Redirects are very useful for eliminating duplicate content. Pages duplicated from
another can be redirected and fed back to the main version of the page.
Where there are pages on your site with high volumes of traffic or link value that are duplicated
from another page, redirects may be a viable option to address the problem.
Black hat SEO
Black hat SEO is a practice against search engine guidelines, used to get a site ranking higher in search
results.
These unethical tactics don’t solve for the searcher and often end in a penalty from search engines.
Search engines, like Google and Bing, are extremely clear about what kinds of behavior are
prohibited.
They’re also very clear about the potential consequences of breaking their rules.
Using black hat SEO strategies might result in your website being punished (either algorithmically or
manually), which means poorer ranking positions and, most likely, a decrease in organic visitors.
 Black Hat SEO Techniques
1) Keyword Stuffing
Search engine analyses the keywords and key phrases on the webpages to index the websites. To exploit this feature of
search engine, some SEO practitioners increase keyword density to get a higher ranking, which is considered a black hat
SEO technique. A keyword density between two to four percent is considered optimal, increasing keyword density beyond
that will irritate your readers and affect your ranking.
2) Cloaking
It refers to coding webpages in such a way that search engines see one set of content, and visitors see another set of
content, i.e., a user searching for "gold price" clicks on a search result "current gold price" and is greeted with a travel and
tourism site. This practice is not in accordance with the search engines' guidelines, which say to create content for users
not for the search engines.
3) Hidden Text
The text which search engines can view but readers can't is known as hidden text. This technique is used to incorporate
irrelevant keywords and hide text or links to increase keyword density or improve internal link structure. Some of the ways
to hide text are to set the font size to zero, use CSS to set text off-screen, create white text on a white background, etc.
Black Hat SEO Techniques…
4) Doorway Pages
The poorly written pages which are rich in keywords but don't contain relevant information and
focus on the links to redirect users to an unrelated page are called doorway pages. These pages are
used by black hat SEO professionals to pass on user traffic to unrelated sites.
5) Article Spinning
It involves rewriting a single article to produce its different copies in such a way that each copy
looks like a new article. The content of such articles is repetitive, poorly written, and has low value
for the visitors. In this technique, such articles are regularly uploaded to create the illusion of fresh
articles.
6) Duplicate Content
The content copied from a website to publish it on another website as the original content is
known as a duplicate content. This black hat technique is known as plagiarism.
Black Hat SEO Techniques…
7) Page Swapping (Bait-and-Switch)
In this technique, first, you get the webpage indexed and ranked on Search Engine listings, then you
change the content of the page entirely. In this case, the user is diverted to a different page when
they click on a result in the SERP.
8) Link Farms
A link farm is a website or collection of websites intended to increase the link popularity of a site by
increasing the number of incoming links. It is considered black hat seo as links farms' sites have low
quality and irrelevant content.
9) URL Hijacking (Typosquatting)
Here, a domain name that is a misspelled version of a popular website or a competitor's site is
registered in an attempt to mislead the visitors. For example, whitehouse.com may mislead users
who want to visit whitehouse.gov.
 Mistakes of Website Owners
Choosing a Domain Name that is Difficult to Spell & Remembers
Losing your objectivity while writing your home page
Keeping your content unorganized
Use of Low-Quality Images
Mismanaged flow in the navigation
Your content is not easy to be scanned: Your content should look like a photograph of words.
Poor Website Content
Following a Minimalistic look strategy: Take the example of an established brand like Coke or McDonalds the logo says it all, they do not need to explain each
and everything all the time.
Not making sure that you have a responsive web design
launching a website with under construction pages
Overuse of any given features: We are repeating it again; Keep it as simple as people. Visitors really don’t like heavy web pages
Publishing the visitor counters: For instance, if it is too low then it can serve as a psychological turn off for your visitor. If this count is too high, then again it
might look as if you are trying to fudge the data for your benefit. This is why it is better to stay neutral.
How to Protect Your Site From Negative SEO
1. Perform Regular Link Audits
Regular link audits are good practice for any business, but they can save your bacon if you’re ever the victim of a negative SEO attack.
Monitoring your link profile growth is hands down the best way to spot suspicious activity before it spirals out of control.
2. Keep an Eye on Your Site Speed
Site speed is a key ranking factor. If your website is becoming sluggish and you have no idea why you should use crawling software to look
for anything suspicious.
3. Search for Scraped Content
Content marketing has been the name of the game these last few years, but not everyone is equally creative when it comes to content
creation. Consequently, scraping has become all too frequent. Scraping is the process of lifting content from your website and copying it
verbatim to other websites.
4. Monitor Google My Business
How to Protect Your Site From Negative
SEO…
5. Watch Your Keywords’ CTR
This insidious attack is difficult to spot if you aren’t monitoring your keywords’ CTR. Log in to Google Search Console,
click Search Traffic > Search Analytics, and look at your CTR across all keywords. If you notice a large spike for no
reason, contact Google and begin disavowing the offending links.
6. Check Your SERP Ranking
You probably don’t need to be told to check your SERP ranking from time to time, but just in case, here’s a compelling
reason why you should: A drop in rank might be the result of malicious intent.
7. Upgrade Your Security
Negative SEO might not be all that common, but cyber attacks are on the rise year after year. Make sure your software
is up to date, you apply all security patches to your software, and your CMS software is equipped with powerful
encryption to protect your users.
You should also migrate your site to HTTPS, especially if you’re in e-commerce or storing other sensitive customer
data. Not only does HTTPS encryption offer you greater security, but it’s also a ranking signal, and it might improve
your SEO overall.
What is Local SEO?
Local SEO is the practice of optimizing your website for a specific local area.
If you have a local business, like a shop, restaurant, or agency, you want your web pages to rank
for certain search queries performed by a local audience.
When done right, local SEO allows people to find information about your business quickly and
easily, putting them one step closer to a transaction.
Optimizing the website of your local business is about making sure people can find you online
and offline.
Even now, when you might not be getting visitors in your building, you’re still targeting an
audience that is located in the same geographical area as you are.
 Local SEO Ranking Factors
1. Proximity of Your Business
A key local SEO ranking factor is the proximity of your business to the address of the searcher who enters the query.
In other words, if someone is seeking the services your business offers, and they are conducting this search nearby, there’s a higher likelihood that you will
show up in the top results.
2. NAP citations
NAP stands for name, address, and phone number. This information is crucial for both potential customers and search engines.
Google will use this information to ascertain proximity details to include in rankings.
3. Presence of Google My Business listing
An impactful way to increase online visibility is to optimize the presence of your Google My Business (GMB) listing.
This GMB listing will get your local business noticed by search engines.
4. Amount of Positive Online Reviews and Ratings
Online reviews are increasingly becoming a top local ranking factor these days. Google looks to these as a way to ascertain your business’ credibility and
popularity.
Positive online reviews build trust and confidence in your business and what you offer.
5. Content that provides valuable and unique insights
High-quality content that provides valuable and unique insights can also benefit your ranking in local search results. Google values quality content.
 6. Organic click-through rates
Organic click-through rates are another important local SEO ranking factor you must know to succeed.
This rate helps search engines determine whether viewers like your content or not. When more viewers click on your post on the
search engine results page, Google believes your content is more relevant and will eventually boost your rankings.
7. Total number of quality backlinks
Backlinks on your website can help your business build authority, boost your credibility, and get you noticed by search engine
algorithms.
The quality and relevance of those backlinks, not the quantity, are what matters.
8. A localized website
There needs to be no doubt to visitors and search engines that your website is for a local business.
Include your business name, address, city, region, and any other identifying information on your homepage, easily found by viewers.
Create location-specific pages if you have more than one location and add unique content for each.
9. Presence on Google Maps
Add your local business to Google Maps.
Include correct contact information and high-quality photos to your Google Maps presence.
Link the Google My Business Account to your Google Maps business listing.
Embed your Google Map on Your Website.
Citations in Local SEO
Citations are an online reference to a business that features the business’ name, address, and
phone number (NAP).

Typically, when an SEO refers to citations, they are talking about a group of individual business
listings on various sites.

Most citations take the form of an online business directory, but other types of citations exist.

While the minimum amount of information required for most citations is just a name, address,
and phone number, most websites offer many more opportunities to add additional
information.
Types of Citations
Structured Citations
Structured citations are mentions of your Examples of General Business
law firm on business directories that hold Structured Citation Sites:
details of many businesses in your office’s 1. Acxiom
geographic area. 2. Apple Maps
3. Better Business Bureau
There are general business directories 4. Bing
and then each industry will have its own 5. Facebook
industry-specific citation opportunities. 6. Foursquare
Directory citations may also contain 7. Google My Business
logos, photos, website link, hours of 8. Manta
operation, services description, videos, 9. Superpages
category of business, reviews, and more. 10. Yahoo! Local
11. Yellow Pages
12. Yelp
Unstructured Citations
Unstructured citations are mentions of your law firm on other, third-party, external websites,
blogs, and other digital locations.
For example, when platforms like online news reference a local business’ complete or partial
contact information, that’s called an unstructured citation.
The best unstructured citations include links, of course; and some even argue citations must
contain a link to qualify as a citation.
Google Business Profile: How to
Completely Optimize Your GBP Listing