Which SEO techniques should I avoid?
Avoid anything meant to trick search engines: bought links, keyword stuffing, hidden text, fake reviews, copied or mass-produced pages. Google's spam policies penalize them.
Avoid any tactic designed to fool search engines instead of help customers. Google publishes spam policies listing these practices. Sites that break them can rank lower or disappear from results, and cleaning up afterward takes time.
Tactics to avoid
| Tactic | What it is |
|---|---|
| Keyword stuffing | Repeating words or lists of towns and phrases unnaturally to rank |
| Buying or selling links | Paying for links meant to raise rankings, or large-scale link swaps |
| Hidden text or links | Text the same color as the background, or pushed off screen |
| Doorway pages | Many near-identical pages, such as one per town, made mainly to catch searches |
| Scaled content | Mass-producing pages, by AI or otherwise, that add little value |
| Scraping | Copying other sites' content without adding anything |
| Cloaking and sneaky redirects | Showing search engines something different from what visitors see |
| Fake or paid reviews | Buying reviews or offering rewards for them. Google prohibits incentives for Business Profile reviews |
| Keyword-stuffed business names | Adding towns or services to your Business Profile name |
Warning signs in an SEO offer
Google's advice on hiring search help warns about anyone who guarantees a number one ranking, claims a special relationship with Google, uses link schemes, or will not explain what they are doing. See the related articles.
What works instead
- Clear pages for each service, written from real experience.
- An accurate, complete Google Business Profile.
- Real reviews from real customers.
- Links you earn from partners, associations and your community.
- A fast, working site.
Common problems
- If a past vendor used these tactics on your site, open a request in your client portal. Our team can review the site and remove anything risky.
- If your site was hit by a manual action, Search Console shows it in the Manual actions report, with what Google found.
- If a competitor seems to get away with spam, focus on your own site. Shortcuts tend to catch up with sites over time, and copying them puts your site at risk.
Related articles
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