Topic: Google is Planning to Penalize Overly Optimized Sites

[busterone]

For those that still think that structuring topic urls and stuffing forum posts with keywords for optimum search results, think again.
Google is planning on blowing that strategy away.
http://www.tekgoblin.com/2012/03/18/google-is-planning-to-penalize-overly-optimized-sites/

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

About time I say. Perhaps then people will start to understand that content is king. I've lost count of how many times I've seen people asking all sorts of SEO help, for a completely empty site or forum. Just does not make sense to waste time in something like that, when you have nothing to offer. Especially since SMF is actually very Google friendly as is.

[busterone]

Wholeheartedly agree.
It may also kick the spammers in the backside too. It will mess up their backlink strategy for sure.

[MSL]

 I really hope so, busterone. 

[Tristan Perry]

They've been doing this (to some extent) for some time. I wish them luck though - clearly over optimized/spammy sites should definitely be penalized by Google.

[ravenzmoon]

Bravo!  They are and have been doing this with 'stores/carts' recently as well.  Anyone remember when the internet was simple? 

[Aleksi "Lex" Kilpinen]

I remember when 56kbps was blazing fast! And to see real colors in images on the net was unbelievably cool

[Rivet]

I remember when 56kbps was blazing fast! And to see real colors in images on the net was unbelievably cool

LOL!  And those rotating graphics—wow! 

[ravenzmoon]

Good grief...lol Next we will be talking about dial up..lol  Then the phone would ring and cut you off the internet.

[SN50]

Yep, but this is more along the lines of websites that have more  Black Hat techniques rather than a website that uses white hat SEO. So building a moderate amount of backlinks and optimizing meta tags won't get you banned. So unless you're using black hat SEO methods you really don't have anything to worry about. 

[annmae]

I suggest they go and look for the spammers and those with Black hat Strategy. I also hope this won't affect other sites. I mean when do some changes everybody is affected. HUGELY.

[SJG]

I remember when 56kbps was blazing fast! And to see real colors in images on the net was unbelievably cool

LOL!  And those rotating graphics—wow! 

And everyone and their brother putting music on their homepage

[青山 素子]

So building a moderate amount of backlinks and optimizing meta tags won't get you banned.

"Optimizing" meta tags actually won't do anything. Google has never bothered using meta keywords and description for ranking. All the other major engines stopped in the late 90s or early 00s.

Building organic backlinks and actually having valuable content are the best way to do well, and this is what Google is trying to encourage.

So unless you're using black hat SEO methods you really don't have anything to worry about. 

I'd worry about over-applying "white hat" tactics too. Basically, if your "SEO tricks" are the only reason you're ranking high on search terms, you're likely to drop as the penalties start rolling out and being refined. If you have good content, then you should be fine or even see a boost as the less-worthy sites drop down.

[ML]

I remember when 56kbps was blazing fast! And to see real colors in images on the net was unbelievably cool

56 WAS fast compared to my first modem. I owned one of the "speedy" 2400 types that cost a small fortune.

About the only thing it was good for was downloading snippets from bulletin boards and listening to the beeps.

With one of these things, one could be in the "web" all night and not get done what happens in 10 minutes now.

This is a good read if you feel nostalgic.
http://www.technofileonline.com/texts/2400modem88.html

[Wazza]

About Time  I hate getting asked all the time to have my web optimized 

[Rivet]

56 WAS fast compared to my first modem. I owned one of the "speedy" 2400 types that cost a small fortune.

The first modem I actually owned (rather than just used) was a 2,400.  The I upgraded to a 14.4 and thought it was blistering fast.  hehe, the memories.

[Eugeanne]

This update definitely hit the SEOs who were using a foul strategy. However, some SEOs still practices the standard strategy. Google won't penalize those websites which follow the standard.

[shamun]

This update definitely hit the SEOs who were using a foul strategy. However, some SEOs still practices the standard strategy. Google won't penalize those websites which follow the standard.

They have.  Websites that have been strictly white-hat have been dropped off the first page in favor of 1-4 post blogspots with CPA.  The update penalized both black and white hat SEO.