http://www.pointit.com - This presentation covers some true stories of SEO campaigns gone wrong; from penalties caused by keyword stuffing to duplicate content, bad backlinks and more. You'll learn what SEO tactics can get your site penalized in search engines and what to do instead.

1. SEO Horror Stories
Cory Banks – Client Manager
Ruth Burr – Client Manager
February 11th, 2010

2. About Point It
Presentation Agenda
• Launched in April 2002
• Seattle’s largest independent
search marketing firm
• PPC & SEO
• 12 team members, 40+ yrs
of SEM experience
• Servicing clients across all
verticals and revenue
models

3. Overview
Presentation Agenda
“… the site “… turns out,
had been the whole site
banned!” is Flash!”
“… he knew
“… they keep
just enough
focusing on
about SEO to
one term…”
be
dangerous…”
“… but we
can’t even use
the term on
their site!”

4. Presentation Agenda
Old Engine Penalties Coming Back to Haunt You
Keyword Cloaking
Stuffing
Evil
Links

5. Common Site Penalties
Presentation Agenda
• Keyword Stuffing: hiding hundreds of
keywords in the page’s code.
• Cloaking: Creating pages that present different
content to search engines than to people.

6. Common Site Penalties
Presentation Agenda
• Bad Links: Selling links, or
excessive linking out to other sites
deemed to be poor quality or
spammy.
• Malware: Viruses or spying software that
auto-download to a visitor’s computer.
• Duplicate Content: Content that is
the same or substantially similar to
another page on the internet.

7. Exorcise Those Ghosts!
Presentation Agenda
• Are you sure you’re being penalized?
• Use the site: query
• Yahoo only: Site Explorer
• http://siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com

8. Exorcise Those Ghosts!
Presentation Agenda
• Figure out what was
done wrong
• Fix it
• Say you’re sorry
• Wait
• Don’t do it again

9. Make a Reinclusion Request
Presentation Agenda
• https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/
reconsideration
• http://www.bing.com/webmaster
• http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/search/
search_support.html

10. PresentationGet Back In
If You Can’t Agenda
• Start over with a
new domain
• Be squeaky clean
• Build for users

11. A LittlePresentation a Dangerous Thing
Knowledge is Agenda
Let’s ALL
No, I’M an
I’m an SEO be SEO
SEO expert! Experts! YAAAY!
expert!

12. Educate, Don’t Mourn Your Fate
Presentation Agenda
• Set expectations early in
the process
• Educate early, educate
often
• Set clear goals and deliver
• Get signoff on your “SEO
Charter:” timeline of
events, deliverables and
expectations

13. Don’t Question My Authoriteh!
Presentation Agenda
• Use data to back up your claims
• Report results - Everybody likes
charts!
• Don’t be afraid to brag
• Build up your SEO champions
• Go back to the charter when things
get rough

14. Presentation of Flash
The Perils Agenda

15. Presentation of Flash
The Perils Agenda

16. Using Too Much Flash
Presentation Agenda
• Limits Your Audience
• No Alternate HTML Content
• Crawlers Don’t Know Where
To Go.
• Makes Your Site Look
Sloppy

17. Flash Optimization
Presentation Agenda
• Make your site nav static.
• Keep your URLs unique.
• Move away from one lump
of Flash.
• Use real text in your flash,
not image text.

18. SWFObject 2.0
Presentation Agenda
• Lets you provide alternate
HTML content for engines
and users.
• Don’t overdo it!
• Beware Cloaking!

19. More Resources
Presentation Agenda
• Adobe Developer Connection for SEO:
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/seo/
• SWFObject – A better way to embed Flash:
http://code.google.com/p/swfobject/
• Google’s Blog about Flash Indexing:
http://bit.ly/4FXqyF

20. “I want to be #1Agenda
Presentation on ‘shoes!’”

21. PresentationIsn’t Better
Why Broad Agenda
“shoes”
“Blue shoes”
“blue shoes for party”
“buy blue shoes”

22. Personalized Search
Presentation Agenda
Middle-Aged Suburban Mother
Late-20s Urban Male

23. Web History = Personalized Search
Presentation Agenda
• Tracks what you
search for, what you
visit.
• Provides individual
SERPS.
• Turned on for
everyone by default.

24. “C” Is For Cookie
Presentation Agenda
• Text files generated
by your site visits.
• Saves login info,
personal options.
• Not edible.

25. PresentationTarget?
What To Agenda
• Specific, action-based terms.
• Relevant to your content and
services
• Most competitive
opportunity.

26. Ranking for Terms You Can’t Use
Presentation Agenda
Don’t say “man
purse.” It’s a
murse. Man +
purse = murse.

27. Ranking for Forbidden Words
Presentation Agenda
• Create new content
• Get social or get paid
• Document your conversations
• Educate!

28. Can’t Use It? Go Around It.
Presentation Agenda
• Get creative with your keyword research
Leather murses
murse
Men’s
bags

29. Q&A
Presentation Agenda