Google is one of the largest new companies in the world, and has revolutionized the way that we search, gather information and communicate. Whether it’s email, getting directions, analyzing your website traffic, or purchasing a phone or tablet, Google is a serious player in any of those areas. And of all of the requests that I get from my website clients, the most common is “How do I get to the top of Google?” While Google isn’t the ONLY search engine out there, it’s become the homecoming queen.

Google programmers spend thousands of hours refining the search algorithms to make sure that your search criteria returns the most accurate and useful information possible. Search engine optimization isn’t brain surgery, and even a novice developer or site owner with time and patience can perform basic SEO techniques to get your site higher on those all important search engines. That being said, I’ll remind you that if you want the job done right, you should turn it over to a professional. After all, I can fix my own leaky roof with enough shingles, nails, and tar, but an experience roofer could do the job quicker and better. Just search “seo tips” and you’ll find dozens of great articles to help get you started.

If you DO choose to take on the task of climbing Mount Google on your own, keep in mind that just as there are ways to get you higher on search engines, search engines don’t like it when you use underhanded techniques to try to cheat your way in. Called “blacklisting”, it’s a search engine’s way of putting a bouncer at the door checking for fake IDs. If they catch that 18 year old kid trying to pass themselves off as 22 year old software developer Nick Papageorgio, they’ll take the ID and send him packing back home for the night. In the same way, if search engines think that you’re employing those unethical techniques, often referred to as “black hat seo techniques”, not only will you find that you’re not climbing the ranks on your favorite search terms, but you might find that you’re not listed at all.

Certain Methods to Avoid

Keyword Stuffing – stuffing your site with unrelated meta keywords just so that you might show up on unrelated or loosely related search terms.

Invisible Text – Formatting text to be so small that you can’t see it or making it the same color as your background is a sneaky way to stuff keywords into your site, and attempts to get around the keyword stuffing rule.

Invisible Links – one pixel text based links that can’t be seen are another black hat method.

While these and other black hat methods may work to get your site higher temporarily, Google is a multibillion dollar company for a reason, and a large portion of their success is based on their reputation for providing accurate search results. Websites that employ black hat methods attempt to undermine the intent of search engines, to it’s no doubt that when found, these sites are quickly sent to the back of the line.