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Keeping In With Google
Julie Smyth : April, 2009

You've always known that Google generates a lot of traffic to your website but did you know that it is actually used for well over half of all internet searches? If you take a look at the latest statistics from Nielsen below you'll see that Google weighs in at 64% of all searches conducted and their next closest competitor (Yahoo) earns a modest 16.3%!!

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
% of all Searches

All Search
8,608,488
4.40%
100.00%
1
Google Search
5,510,366
7.80%
64.0%
2
Yahoo! Search
1,406,416
-2.80%
16.3%
3
MSN/Windows Live Search
852,998
7.20%
9.9%
4
AOL Search
321,205
-8.80%
3.7%
5
Ask.com Search
181,617
5.90%
2.1%

RANK
Provider
Searches (000)
YOY Growth
% of all Searches

6
My Web Search Search
59,110
3.60%
0.70%

7
Comcast Search
45,338
-1.80%
0.50%

8
Yellow Pages Search
37,160
N/A*
0.40%

9
NexTag Search
22,845
3.90%
0.30%

10
Dogpile.com Search
17,010
3.10%
0.20%

Source: Nielsen MegaView Search
* A year-over-year comparison is not possible because of a definitional change to Yellow Pages Search.


After reading this I began checking statistics for our own websites and the results were fairly close to those listed above. Google are a force to be reckoned with and one that you wouldn't want to fall out with, being banned from Google would be extremely detrimental to your business.

Ten ways to get banned by Google:
  1. Copying Content / Duplicating Pages
    If you have duplicated pages from another website without consent within your site, Google will ban your site.
  2. Cloaking Subterfuges
    Google considers cloaking unethical, i.e. the creation of meaningless pages that are stuffed with highly ranked keywords and not much else, that then redirect to a meaningful page. Google spiders swallow up all those keywords on the meaningless page and your rank in the Google goes up. Well, only temporarily because if you're caught Google will ban your site.
  3. Invisible Text and Links
    Creating invisible links that your visitors can't see but the spiders can will also put you offside with Google. Why? Because it's like telling a lie, you use the invisible links and text because it has nothing to do with your website content.
  4. Keyword Spamming
    Duplication of too many keywords in your Meta tags or as text within the <body> tag is a no no as well and if a spider detects it you'll be banned.
  5. Bad Links
    We all know reciprocal links improve your rankings in Google but buy into a "link farm" ( a service that gives the impression you have loads of legitimate links ) and if a spider detects it you'll be banned.
  6. Use a Scraper
    Scrapers are programs that look around the internet for content and then publish that content on your site. Similar to point 1, duplicating content is a big no no.
  7. Send SPAM from your Domain
    Yep, if you're mass mailing SPAM from your domain, Google will ban you.
  8. Distribute Viruses
    Viruses are punishable by death, well death to your Google listing.
  9. Phishing
    Set yourself up a site that has a similar domain name to one of the large major Banking Institutions and then email people to try and get their bank account login details. Yes, Google will ban you but you might also be getting a little visit from Interpol.
  10. WAREZ
    Warez sites have been around since the Internet first started getting popular in 2005 or so, they basically offer pirated software free for download. These sites get taken down and are usually back on line fairly quickly under another guise. So, if you want to get banned by Google distributing pirated software is a sure way to do it.

So, in summary, remember those statistics above and do your best to keep Google happy and not get banned.

 
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