These Two Simple Things Will Keep You Out of Google Jail

•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              We've seen lots of Google smackdowns over the last five years...first there was Panda in 2011, then Penguin in early 2012...since then, there have been a number of smaller algorithm changes.

Last week, we saw a Penguin "update" which targeted spam links and junk websites. On this one, I say more power to them for taking out the trash! 

Google is trying to make everyone play by the rules, and where there are rules, there are always rule-breakers!  However, we need to keep in mind that 

"He who has the gold makes the rules."

It's quite obvious who holds the lion's share of the gold when it comes to the Internet...so barring some mass webvolution, we need to play by Google's rules. 

However, this article I wrote about Google Penguin nearly three years ago still holds true-- do things the right way and you don't have to worry about being affected by the whim of the Big G! Here are some of the points I made in May of 2012: 

• Check out your site's links and get rid of anything questionable. 
• Add fresh content regularly to keep your site relevant.
• Don't keyword stuff. Make your writing natural. 
• Don't use article spinners. (DUH--this is a no-brainer!)
• Have a presence on Google+. Seriously, Google loves it. 
• Tone down advertising. (I would add that rel="nofollow" is your friend nowadays.) 
• Stay over from bad neighborhoods. (Spammy sites, casinos and porn!) 
• Keep it relevant. (Write about what your site is about, and tie articles to your theme.) 

In addition to keeping those points in mind, there are two really simple ways to stay on Google's good side. These are the things that we know have not been dinged for bad behavior, and that Google wants more of-- so it's probably best to play by their rules. 

High-quality and relevant content: If you provide valuable information to your site's readers, Google will not ding your site for it-- I promise. This is exactly what Google wants you to do-- provide excellent answers to people's searches on the Google search engine. 

On the other hand, if your site is filled with thin articles written just to stuff in your keywords, look out, because they will get you eventually!

Remember in the past when you could land on a page filled with total nonsense? Google has gotten rid of those with these algo changes. I will add to this the articles that are obviously not written by any human, even in a third world country....these are the spun, trash articles that take a good blog post and turn it into five junk ones. 

Have you had content blatantly ripped off? I cannot tell you how many times I've had articles stolen in the past. So many times that I finally stopped trying to track them down and send DMCAs to get them removed. Thanks to Google and Karma, however, those ripoff artists have likely gotten spanked for the thefts.

Spend the time to research and write articles for your website that bring value to your readers. Not only is it the right thing to do for Google purposes, it is simply the right thing to do in general. It will keep you in Google's good graces, and keep people coming back to your site for more! 

SocialSEO : Instead of trying to game the system with black-hat SEO techniques, your time should be invested in sharing on social media. You can share your own high-quality, and original content that you have written on your topic, and you can also share links to other quality information, videos, and images that pertain and are relevant to your website and/or business. 

Never re-post someone's article without permission. However, most people will be thrilled if you link to their article and mention them in yours, as the Weidert Group did here with my Social Media Success Proof article. This validates the writer and helps to share their content to a wider audience. 

Likewise, social media mentions, likes, comments, and shares are increasingly being used in SEO calculations and helping to drive traffic to good websites. 

In the early days of SEO, everyone scrambled to find ways to get their content syndicated--- blog comments, press releases, and thin guest articles were all used, and since then all of these have been penalized.
Do not depend on any of these methods to get you anywhere good in today's environment.

So, to summarize---

1. I recommend that you provide lots of high-quality, relevant content on your own websites. 

2. Share your content liberally throughout the Internet.

These two actions are the way to keep your site fresh in Google's eyes, and are the main components of what I call #SocialSEO. I believe this is what Google, and the other search engines, had intended the world wide web to be all along-- it has just taken some time for all of us and Google Bot to really learn where we were headed.