Business Owners Risk Google Penalties

SCOOP press release

Kiwi Business Owners Risk Google Penalties

According to a search engine optimisation expert, many New Zealand businesses are unwittingly putting their websites at risk of Google penalties.

“You'd be surprised how many sites are in violation of Google's guidelines and are risking penalties as a result,” said Tom McSherry, founder of Premium SEO NZ.

Google has rolled out multiple major algorithm updates in the past few years, including the Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird updates. Each new iteration targets a different element of “web spam” as Google's team attempt to clean up search results. But sometimes, unsuspecting local businesses get caught in the crossfire.

“In some cases it's just because they don't know they're doing something wrong – for example, having the exact same content across multiple pages on the site. But often it's actually their own SEO company causing the problem by using spammy, outdated practices,” McSherry said.

While it's sometimes possible to recover a website after a penalty, it's an expensive process with no guarantees of success.

“It depends on the type of penalty, but in many cases it would cost more to remove the penalty than to simply start over with a new website,” he said.

“Even if a penalty is removed, there's no guarantee the website will actually bounce back to previous traffic levels. That's why it's so important to spot risks and correct problems before a penalty strikes in the first place.”

Premium SEO helps New Zealand businesses identify penalties and penalty risk as part of their free website audit.

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