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In Chapter 23 of the book, the author discusses the relationship between shady SEO practitioners and Google. The author explains that many SEO practitioners use tactics that violate Google’s terms of service in order to gain an advantage. Google has a department dedicated to learning about these practices and uses their findings to influence algorithm updates. The author advises readers to always ask themselves if they would reward, punish, or be indifferent to the SEO techniques they are considering using.
The author defines a Google penalty as either an algorithmic penalty, which is a significant update to Google’s algorithm that impacts a website’s rankings, or a manual penalty, which is a failure to pass a manual review of a website by a member of Google’s Search Team. To determine if a website has been affected by a penalty, the author recommends checking Google Search Console for manual penalties and using tools like SEMRush to check for algorithmic penalties.
The author then goes on to explain the different algorithmic penalties that Google has implemented. These include the Panda penalty which targets spam websites and keeps low-quality or “thin” content from showing up in search results, the Penguin penalty which tries to safeguard against the abuse of links, the Mobilegeddon penalty which penalizes websites that are unfriendly on mobile devices, the Top Heavy penalty which penalizes websites that have excessive ads above the fold, the Payday penalty which targets websites in highly competitive industries like payday loans and casinos, and the Pirate penalty which targets websites that violate piracy laws.
The author also discusses manual penalties, which are issued after a human review of a website and can be lifted if the issues causing the penalty are resolved. The main reasons for manual penalties are unnatural links, spam, thin content, and violations of Google’s guidelines for local businesses.
In Chapter 24, the author explains that there is a free video accompaniment series to the book that can be accessed on YouTube. The videos provide more detailed explanations of the topics discussed in the book. The author provides a link to the video series and mentions that a receipt number is required to access the videos.
Chapter 25 introduces the week-by-week SEO blueprint that will be followed for the next three months. The author acknowledges that the blueprint may not guarantee desired results and emphasizes the importance of a long-term strategy in SEO. The author also notes that the tasks in the blueprint can be completed in a few hours each week and are spread out over a three-month period to appear more natural to Google. A PDF version of the SEO blueprint is provided for readers to print if desired.
Chapter 26 starts the blueprint with Week 1, which focuses on keyword research and penalty checking. The goals for the end of the week include choosing a primary keyword for each topic page, cataloguing ancillary keywords, creating a spreadsheet of keyword density for top-ranking websites, and setting up Google Search Console. The author also recommends checking for clear indications of a Google penalty.
Week 2 of the blueprint involves setting up keyword and traffic tracking, and structuring the website. Goals for the end of the week include setting up a Serpfox.com account for tracking keywords, setting up a Google Analytics account for monitoring traffic, “siloing” the website, auditing the site structure to ensure short URLs, and placing primary keywords within the URLs of key pages.
Week 3 focuses on adding content and performing on-page optimization. Goals for the end of the week include having each service page be 1000+ words long, adding outbound links to authority sites, peppering content with keyword synonyms, optimizing H tags, Alt tags, IMG filenames, and Title tags, creating page titles with primary keywords, writing SEO meta descriptions, auditing the website’s load speed, and submitting a sitemap to Google.
Week 4 involves issuing two press releases. This week is meant to be easier as it follows the busy week of adding content and performing on-page optimization. The author provides a list of websites where press releases can be issued.
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