****Paula Morical**** Website Consultant

Since I’ve been writing about search engine optimization and using keywords to obtain organic website traffic, it’s probably a good idea to address the issue of “spam.” 

What is Spam?

Unfortunately, the exact definition of spam depends largely on who you ask.  However, as a general rule of thumb spam is anything a website owner might do to “trick” search engines into directing traffic to the website that would not have otherwise gone there.  

How Is Spam Created?

Spammers are a very creative group of people.  This creativity is what allows them to evolve their methods right alongside technology, forcing search engines and the people writing search engine algorithms to continuously change the “rules.”   However, I’m going to write under the assumption that most people reading this are NOT techies who can navigate the computer and the internet in their sleep (don’t feel bad–I certainly can’t either).  With that said, here’s what spam often looks like:

• Keyword stuffing–in a website’s meta tags and/or page content
• Invisible text–text that is the same color as the website’s background
• Doorway pages–pages that are optimized for search engines but then redirect traffic to a different site
• Link farming–using networks of low quality links to other sites to increase link popularity
• Mirror sites–pages or domains that contain the exact same content (often seen with affiliate sites)

What Happens to Spammers Who Are Caught?

Invariably, many spammers are guilty of ignorance rather than intention.  Website owners, particulary those new to the internet, can sometimes create spam on their sites just by overusing or incorrectly using their keywords, as well as selecting poor sites to link to and from in an effort to increase page rank.  In these situations, most search engines are kind enough to warn the website owner of impending action against them and allow them time to correct the error.   However, for repeat offenders and those who use more sophisticated methods, the search engines are usually less forgiving.

Search engines assess penalties differently.  Most will first attempt to filter the offending content so that it doesn’t register with their site crawlers, thereby reducing website traffic (which was the whole purpose of the spam).  Websites using spam techniques can also lose page rank as a penalty, and in severe cases–the search engine may permanently ban the website from its index. 

How to Report Spam

They say that “nobody likes a tattletale.”  But I firmly believe that rules are rules and everyone should be expected to abide by them.   If you  encounter a website you feel is intentionally using spam techniques, you can and should report it.  Most search engines have a way to report spam via an online tool or email.  Google, for instance, can be contacted at search-quality@google.com.

(Please note that I emphasized the word “intentionally” above.  Because I believe in the inherent goodness of humankind, I am willing to forgive the occasional spammy website when it is obvious the website owner isn’t trying to skirt the system.  But that’s just my opinion. )

In short, there is plenty of traffic out there for all of our websites.  It’s fine to be web savvy and use the “tools of the trade” to your advantage.  But playing fair will go further in the long run toward your online success than  spamming.  To help you decide whether your technique is or isn’t spam, consider this (from Alan Perkins’ The Classification of Search Engine Spam):  would you use a particular technique if search engines didn’t exist?  If the answer is no, it’s probably spam.   Don’t use it.