What is Search Engine SPAM ?

Search Engine SPAM is what the Search Engines themselves define as SPAM. There may be gray areas that create contention amongst marketers and website owners. Your own judgement, gut feeling and sense of fair play should always guide you. (If you lack the above qualities, you should be guided by a rigorous adherence to the Search Engines' published standards to avoid any trouble.)

As with any industry that is not bound by regulations it is a difficult playing field for both website owners and Internet Marketers. There has been a great deal of discussion and heated debate within the Internet Marketing/Search Engine industry about the areas of standards and best practice. However, to date, there has not been an organisation or individual that has been able to set up a definitive set of guidelines under which Search Engine Marketers could badge themselves.

What Do the Search Engines Say About SPAM?

The Search Engines are very clear (in most cases) about what they consider to be good and bad practices for web design and search engine marketing. It is well worth taking the time to study the help and guidelines pages provided to see whether your website measures up to their quality standards for inclusion. For the most part the search engine indexing process is handled automatically with sets of rules (algorithms) in place to weed out what is not wanted as well as to serve the ranking order of results when visitors perform a search query.

You may see many websites and webpages within the search results that are enjoying exposure but do not live up to the search engines stated guidelines. This, however, could change tomorrow as the search engines strive to keep their listings clean and relevant by adjusting their SPAM filters and continually refining their processes. Most search engines will also manually review and remove websites and pages that are flagged as troublemakers or are caught out and reported by the searching public. (This could be competitors, unhappy searchers or "ethical" marketers willing to work with the Search Engines in an attempt to keep the playing field clean).

Human edited directories such as Yahoo, DMOZ, Looksmart, GoGuides and JoeAnt along with a vast range of regional and industry specific directories also have strict guidelines for submission and inclusion. These guidelines are most likely found on their submission pages and should be followed strictly. Becoming a "known spammer" may cause your domain(s) to be flagged, and excluded from their indexes for life.Google is currently the most popular Search Engine and provides website owners with comprehensive guidelines, information and help. http://www.google.com/webmasters

Source:http://www.dialdesign.com.au

What is SEO or Search Engine Optimization?

Search Engine Marketers (SEM's) = Ad Agencies

Search engine marketers dealing with paid listings are very similar to ad agencies in offline media. They work with the message and the creative to get people to take action: to buy, subscribe or to register. They have budgets and are able to examine results and tweak campaigns to get the maximum return for their clients.
It is very obvious to see the similarities between Search Engine Marketers and ad agencies, but it is a little harder to understand the role of search engine optimizers, as they relate to the "free" search engine listings.

Search Engine Optimizers (SEO's) = Public Relations Firms

A search engine optimizer is very similar to a public relations firm in the offline world. PR firms try to get their clients mentioned in news stories and featured in print and broadcast media, i.e., they obtain "free" publicity. An SEO consultant attempts to get their client's site listed highly in the "editorial" or "free" listings of the search engines. As with offline media, the editorial content (or listings) often carries more credibility with consumers.
Just as a PR firm carefully writes press releases and formats them in a way that is constructive to the news media, a search engine optimizer adjusts the code and wording in a site to present it in a way that search engines prefer to read it. A good SEO (just like a good PR firm) will create content that is interesting and practical, making it much more likely to be ranked well (or be newsworthy).
PR firms often act as image consultants as well, working with the company and its executives to make sure they present the best possible impression when meeting with the press. They make sure their message is consistent and keeping with their brand, to help firmly reinforce the company's image in the mind of the customer. A qualified SEO often does the same thing for a site, making design or usability recommendations to ensure that once people arrive, they will easily be able to find what they need.
Unfortunately, SEO is not something that can be done quickly; it is very much a long-term proposal. If you are looking for a quick search engine presence, I would suggest that you purchase ads from Google AdWords and Overture. This will get you the immediate search engine exposure you are looking for when people search for your keyword phrases.
Google AdWords and Overture marketing available as well (or consultation).
Link building campaigns available - this is one of the most important aspects of SEO - Our job is, to find qualified link partners to exchange links with you.

Link Building Explained:

Search engines are trying to determine the most relevant results for their search queries, and to do this; they analyze the linking structure of the community (the Internet).
They "know" what specific pages are about and they believe that pages that link together are somehow related. They are basically sharing their reputation with each other. The more pages point to a specific page, the more importance or influence that page has in their calculations.
Think about it like this: I make blue widgets. I sell them to Rolls Royce. I tell my customers, our blue widgets are the best - we sell to Rolls Royce. At Rolls Royce, they tell their customers their cars are the best because they only use our blue widgets. Both businesses are using the reputation of the other one to increase their selling proposition.

That's what links can do. A sound linking proposition increases the reputations of both businesses. Writing to a Webmaster with a form mail that says "I've added your link, will you add mine" is dumb. If someone wanted to partner with your business and sent you a canned e-mail, would you take them seriously?

You've got to give that other business a reason to link to you. It is a business proposal, not a link exchange. Both sides must benefit from the partnership. If you don't know what your site has to offer another site or why your link is valuable, it's time for early retirement!

The best way to earn those links is through quality content. When a site links to you, they are staking their reputation on you. That's something to think about when you consider linking to a free-for-all site or a link farm. If you can purchase a quality link that relates to your site, buy it! It's a business proposal like everything else. That is certainly one way to do it and a relatively simple one, if you have the opportunity.

It's not about themes; it's about communities and reputation. Linking creates virtual communities.
Links from the business community you exist in, are going to have more relevance than unrelated links. I say this because search engines are going to make some simple assumptions - a link from page A to page B is a recommendation by the author of page A. If page A and page B are linked, they might be somehow related.
A network of links from pages in the community that are truly related is going to build a stronger relevance for that page than a bunch of unrelated links.
We cannot guarantee top ranking (companies stating they can are simply not telling you the truth), but we have excellent client feedback.

Source:http://www.ucsi.cc/portfolio/seo-samples.html

10 most important SEO Tips

Be bold.
Use thebold tags around some of your keywords on each page. Do NOT use them everywhere the keyword appears. Once or twice is plenty.

Deep linking.
Make sure you have links coming in to as many pages as possible. What does it tell a search engine when other web sites are linking to different pages on your site? That you obviously have lots of worthwhile content. What does it tell a search engine that all your links are coming in to the home page? That you have a shallow site of little value, or that your links were generated by automation rather than by the value of your site.

Become a foreigner. Canada and the UK have many directories for websites of companies based in those countries. Can you get a business address in one of those countries?
Newsletters. Offer articles to ezine publishers that archive their ezines. The links stay live often for many years in their archives.

First come, first served. If you must have image links in your navigation bar, include also text links. However, make sure the text links show up first in the source code, because search engine robots will follow the first link they find to any particular page. They won't follow additional links to the same page.

Multiple domains.
If you have several topics that could each support their own website, it might be worth having multiple domains. Why? First, search engines usually list only one page per domain for any given search, and you might warrant two. Second, directories usually accept only home pages, so you can get more directory listings this way. Why not a site dedicated to gumbo pudding pops?

Article exchanges.
You've heard of link exchanges, useless as they generally are. Article exchanges are like link exchanges, only much more useful. You publish someone else's article on the history of pudding pops with a link back to their site. They publish your article on the top ten pudding pop flavors in Viet Nam, with a link back to your site. You both have content. You both get high quality links. (More on high quality links in other tips.)

Titles for links. Links can get titles, too. Not only does this help visually impaired surfers know where you are sending them, but some search engines figure this into their relevancy for a page.

Not anchor text.
Don't overdo the anchor text. You don't want all your inbound links looking the same, because that looks like automation – something Google frowns upon. Use your URL sometimes, your company name other times, "Gumbo Pudding Pop" occasionally, "Get gumbo pudding pops" as well, "Gumbo-flavored pudding pops" some other times, etc.

Site map.
A big site needs a site map, which should be linked to from every page on the site. This will help the search engine robots find every page with just two clicks. A small site needs a site map, too. It's called the navigation bar.

Source:http://www.thehappyguy.com/SEO-tips.html

Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Ten Controversial Search Engine Optimization Techniques

1. Duplicate Pages
In general, search engines ignore duplicate pages. In extreme cases, they may ban a site.

2. Invisible Text

Search engines consider the use of text that is the same color as the background color as spam. So stay clear of using invisible text.

3. Keywords In Comment Tags
Hardly any, if any, of the major search engines index comment tags, so don't waste time adding them for optimization purposes.

4. Keywords In Hidden Value Tags
Keywords in hidden value tags are considered spam by all of the major search engines, so don't waste time with this practice.

5. Keywords In Style Tags
Very few search engines index the content of style tags, so do not waste anytime on this technique.

6. Link Farms And Link Exchange Programs
Search engines consider link farms and link exchange programs as spam, as they have only one purpose - to artificially inflate a site's link popularity, by exchanging links with other participants.
Do not confuse link farms and link exchange programs with reciprocal linking. Reciprocal linking is the exchange of links with individual sites, and certainly an accepted technique for improving your site's link popularity.

7. Links Only Pages
I recommend adding text descriptions to link pages and site maps. Some search engines, such as AltaVista, have been known to kick out links only pages.

8. Meta Refresh Tags
In general, meta refresh tags set for under 30 seconds are considered as spam by search engines. As such, most search engine optimizers use JavaScript redirects.
Having said that, I recently read an article that said the Fast and Inktomi search engines recommend using meta refresh tags, instead of JavaScript redirects.
Are you confused? I certainly am!
So to be on the safe side, I suggest sticking with JavaScript redirects, until there is conclusive proof that search engines accept meta refresh tags.

9. Tiny Text
Many of the major search engines consider tiny text (i.e. font size 1) as spam. Some use of tiny text is fine. Search engines don't like web pages that use a lot of tiny text. The reason is because some webmasters have used it to fool search engines by "hiding" dozens of keywords in a web page.

10. Cloaking
Cloaking is the practice of serving search engine optimized pages to search engine spiders, while at the same time serving un-optimized pages to site visitors.
Cloaking is one of the most controversial strategies in search engine optimization. Major search engines publicly state that they consider all cloaking to be spam. However, many professional search engine optimizers have been using cloaking for years, with much success.

Until there is conclusive proof that search engines do indeed ban sites that use cloaking, I suggest you take care if you decide to use cloaking.

Source: http://www.mikes-marketing-tools.com/

Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Ten Controversial Search Engine Optimization Techniques

1. Duplicate Pages
In general, search engines ignore duplicate pages. In extreme cases, they may ban a site.

2. Invisible Text

Search engines consider the use of text that is the same color as the background color as spam. So stay clear of using invisible text.

3. Keywords In Comment Tags
Hardly any, if any, of the major search engines index comment tags, so don't waste time adding them for optimization purposes.

4. Keywords In Hidden Value Tags
Keywords in hidden value tags are considered spam by all of the major search engines, so don't waste time with this practice.

5. Keywords In Style Tags
Very few search engines index the content of