Without a doubt, Google likes white hat SEO tactics. For the past few years, Google has continually shown its commitment to the strict implementation of appropriate SEO tactics. And the word appropriate here stands for SEO schemes that follow Google's Webmaster Guidelines. Eventually, the violators and law breakers came out in the open early last year. Whose identities were being punished for not following the prescribed white hat approach? The violators exposed were shockingly large and popular.
Google Reprimands JCPenny.com For Unlawful Link Scheme
J.C. Penney, the popular department store with over a thousand stores in the US, was found guilty of using black hat SEO strategy. Alleged to have utilised paid links to fuel the advertising efforts for its site, the store giant's corporate website, JCPenney.com, was slapped by Google with a 90 day penalty.
Blue Fountain Media's Doug Pierce, among other SEO experts, pointed out the retailing giant's preference for black hat SEO was more of a bane. Interestingly, J.C. Penney denied having any knowledge of these shady methods of illegal link schemes being done under their roof. The culprit behind the alleged cheat? Fingers are pointed at that disreputable SEO company they depended on for their rankings.
Google Penalizes Forbes.com For Selling Links
Previously reprimanded in 2007, the famed online magazine Forbes.com headlined the list of offenders in 2011 for the second time. The magazine website received a spanking from Google because of participating in the dark art practice of black hat SEO. According to the reports, the magazine website, which became a violator of Webmaster Guidelines, has been selling text links all over the Web. Google's notice specifically highlighted the fact that the web pages of the website used unnatural links to manipulate PageRank.
The issue might be far off from the present day, but the importance of the story remains: white hat is the ultimate road to successful rankings. Ultimately, the underlying message of these penalisations is that there's no better way to rank high in Google than by implementing white hat SEO strategies.
Google Reprimands JCPenny.com For Unlawful Link Scheme
J.C. Penney, the popular department store with over a thousand stores in the US, was found guilty of using black hat SEO strategy. Alleged to have utilised paid links to fuel the advertising efforts for its site, the store giant's corporate website, JCPenney.com, was slapped by Google with a 90 day penalty.
Blue Fountain Media's Doug Pierce, among other SEO experts, pointed out the retailing giant's preference for black hat SEO was more of a bane. Interestingly, J.C. Penney denied having any knowledge of these shady methods of illegal link schemes being done under their roof. The culprit behind the alleged cheat? Fingers are pointed at that disreputable SEO company they depended on for their rankings.
Google Penalizes Forbes.com For Selling Links
Previously reprimanded in 2007, the famed online magazine Forbes.com headlined the list of offenders in 2011 for the second time. The magazine website received a spanking from Google because of participating in the dark art practice of black hat SEO. According to the reports, the magazine website, which became a violator of Webmaster Guidelines, has been selling text links all over the Web. Google's notice specifically highlighted the fact that the web pages of the website used unnatural links to manipulate PageRank.
The issue might be far off from the present day, but the importance of the story remains: white hat is the ultimate road to successful rankings. Ultimately, the underlying message of these penalisations is that there's no better way to rank high in Google than by implementing white hat SEO strategies.
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