I asked her why the link was there. She told me it was “for the search engines.” It never ceases to amaze me how much really bad – I mean absolutely horrible – advice is floating around the Internet.

She never did hire me, but she did walk away with one free piece of advice that I now share with you: “Remove that link ASAP.” Hidden links and hidden text are big trouble and something you should never do.

A hidden link is simply a link the search engine robots would follow, but is not visible to the naked eye. It could be a one pixel by one pixel graphic the same color as the background. Hidden text could be keyword written in the same color as the background.

If a search engine detects text in the same color as the background, it might penalize or even ban your site. In fact, one search engine expert has even suggested that if your background is, say, white, and you have a black table with white text on your page, that search engines would read that as hidden text (white background, white text) even though the text is clearly visible in the black table. Hmm. I will have to revisit my own site’s colors.

Why are hidden links and hidden text bad? Because they try to cheat the rules. Cheating is bad, and search engines do not like playing with cheaters.

Duplicate pages are also a no-no. Search engines like original content made for human visitors. Five pages with the same article are seen as spamming, even if you did change “bicycle repair” to “fix your bike” in the second version and to “bike repair” in the third.

I was asked to exchange links with four websites this one person owned. The sites are very wholesome and I believe the webmaster is too. But the link pages on each website are identical: same introductory text and same links in the same order with identical wording each. All it would take is one complain to get all four sites banned, or at very least, severely demoted at Google and other search engines.

Needless to say, I turned down the offer, so that my site would not be associated with a “bad neighborhood”.

Why are duplicate pages bad? Because they try to cheat the rules. Cheating is bad, and search engines do not like playing with cheaters.

Doorway pages are also bad. A doorway page is a page carefully designed to do well on search engine results, but is never meant to be used by humans. Often there is then a link to a website or there is some form of redirect.

Why not just optimize your site for the keywords you want, rather than try to trick the search engines? It probably will cost you less to hire a good search engine optimizer, and your website will not get banned.

I was approached by someone offering a combination of doorway pages and link farming (another no-no!). He did not call them by those names, even insisting they were not doorway pages. He wanted a few hundred dollars a month. There’s nothing like your friendly neighborhood mortician coming to call when business is slow and bearing his own special brew for you to sample.

Why are doorway pages bad? Because they try to cheat the rules. Cheating is bad, and search engines do not like playing with cheaters.

By the way, “doorway pages” should not be confused with “entry pages”. I get lots of my traffic entering through one or another of my articles. But these are real articles with real content, designed for human eyes and optimized for the search engines. This is a good tactic, because it adds content (which is what search engines are looking for).

Hidden links and text, duplicate pages and doorway pages are just a few of the “clever” tactics that can land you in the “Search Engine Slammer”. If you spend much time on the Internet, you’ll be approached about many others sooner or later.

Here is a simple question to ask yourself: “Would this be helping the search engines deliver the best results, or would it be trying to cheat their rules?” If it feels a little funny, don’t try it. Or ask someone who knows.

Search engines are your friends. Be nice to them, and they’ll be nice to you. You might just land yourself a berth atop Mount Google.

There are variety of optimization factors to consider when optimizing your web pages. I have found three factors in particular to have more of an impact than others when correlating them to search engine rankings. In particular, meta tags, URL structure, and page load speed all have a direct impact on search engine rankings for particular keywords or keyword phrases.

Meta tags are important to web site rankings because they provide some basic information to search engine spiders. Meta tags need to be formatted correctly to enhance search engine rankings. My research as shows that meta tags by themselves cannot radically improve rankings. It is my belief that meta tags may be used to verify other aspects of your website and are important for getting users to click through from search engine results.

The best formatted meta tags should include a title tag that includes the keywords that you are trying to optimize for. It is recommended that the size of the title tag is sixty or fewer characters as this is the limit shown on Google search results. The second meta tag is the description tag which should be limited to fewer than one hundred and fifty characters and repeat your keyword phrase no more than two times.

The last meta tag worthy of description is the keyword tag. I see this tag misused all too often and it may actually be hurting your search engine rankings. When using a keyword tag, focus on only a dozen of your most important and highly trafficked keywords. Search engines should know that you are an authority site and worthy of top rankings. Do your research and only include the keywords that truly matter. You can also evaluate the sites in the top positions and model their keywords as long as they are included on your web site or blog.

Once you have your meta tags within your web page code it’s time to focus on the next on page optimization factor. The load time of your web pages matter a great deal to Google and other search engines. Not only does your web page need to be formatted correctly but it needs to load quickly. Fast loading web sites mean a better user experience. Search engines like Google reward you for providing the right information quickly to web site browsers. Keep load times to a minimum and continually work to improve the speed at which your site loads.

The third and certainly one of the most important factors is URL structure. It is true that having your keyword in the URL helps but it is not the only or the most heavily weighed optimization factor by Google. There are plenty of examples of sites that include the keyword in the URL being outranked by other web sites. If you can purchase a URL that has your keyword in it though, consider it advantageous. If you are unable to do so, consider adding a folder or page to your site that includes the keyword you want to optimize your site for. A good example would be www.sample.com/keyword. By doing so you are placing your keyword close to the root and giving it more value. Also consider a sub domain strategy.

Before you begin any search engine optimization effort, evaluate your web site, landing page, or blog from the perspective of meta tags, load speed, and URLs. There are additional on page factors we’ll discuss in the next lesson, but the three mentioned herein are vitally important to your search engine optimization success.

About the Author

Michael Fleischner is an SEO consultant and author of SEO Made Simple, revealing strategies guaranteed to improve search engine rankings. Learn more about Michael’s hands-on SEO training program, Internet Marketing Forum, and SEO consulting at MarketingScoop.com or contact him via the Marketing Blog at http://marketing-expert.blogspot.com.

You can also make money referring other people to Google Adsense.  By placing a referral button on your site you increase your earnings potential.  When a publisher that you referred makes their initial $100.00  within 90 days of sign-up and is eligible for payout, your account will also be credited $100.00. Additionally, they must never have registered for a Google Adsense account before.

Don’t be intimidated by the html code.  It’s already formatted.  All you have to do is choose the language and kind of button you would like, and copy and paste the html code to your site.  Look for the referral code and more information under Adsense support.

The most important decision should be based on the needs of the visitors to your site?  What are they looking for? Are they there to read or merely to browse.  If they are there to read an entire article, say, you might try placing your ads at the bottom of the page so they will have something to do next.  Some publishers swear by placing the ads at the top left of the page because they think customers look there first.

The fun thing is experimenting with all the possibilities.  Try different ad locations and different colors for a week and note the differences in your reports.  When you hit on something successful, you’ll see the difference.

Image ads are only for Adsense for Content pages and not available for Adsense for Search results pages.

There are 5 major formats of image ads.  The Leaderboard, which is about twice the size of a banner ad, the banner image ad, the skyscraper, the wide skyscraper and the medium rectangle. Google’s technology determines on a page by page basis whether image ads, text ads, or a combination of both will make you more money and then delivers the appropriate format.

You can choose to run only image ads, but Google recommends selecting both, thereby giving them a better chance to target the right advertising for your page, generating more revenue for you.

Bottom line: taking these two methods together will give you the best chance at making the most revenue.

In fact, Google is very strict about the integrity of this process.  You are forbidden to click on your own ads.  If you do, your Adsense account will be terminated and you might never get it back.  You are also prohibited from asking others to click on “your ads”.  It makes sense.  Why would advertisers want to pay just so your friends and family could click on your ads when no one is really interested in purchasing the lawn mower or subject of the ad.

The good news is that it’s not necessary to “cheat.”  Google Adsense is so easy you’ll make more money just going by the rules.  Have or write interesting content that will turn up in search engines and you have “targeted” the right people to read those ads.  Just think, somebody in Indiana buys a lawn mower and you get a commission!

The “help me out” wail may work when your kid is selling outrageously expensive candles for the end of the year school party but it has no place in the Google Adsense Program.

Besides, if you’re asking people to click on your ads, that means you’re not optimizing your site for valid clicks as well as referrals.  Use that same energy to polish your content and your site.  When family and friends ask what you’ve been up to, you can proudly show them your hard work.  When they see how excited you are, you’ll see your referral revenue go up.

It’s interesting to look at the breakdown.  As you can see, Adsense for Content, which refers to the targeted ads appearing on the pages in which you have written content, is listed first.  Here you will see the number of page impressions listed in the first column.  While a page impression is generally the same as a page view, that is not always the case.  For a more detailed definition of a page impression, see Google Adsense support, click on Your Adsense Account and then click on Your Adsense Report.

Next, you’ll notice the number of clicks.  This refers to the number of times “your ads” were clicked on.

Page click through rate or CTR is in the next column shown as a percentage. It represents the percentage of the time an ad was clicked on after viewing your page.

Page eCPM which stands for effective cost per thousand impressions.  It is calculated by dividing total earnings by the number of page impressions in thousands.

Don’t be intimidated by these statistics.  The bottom line, your earnings, is what really counts.  As you become more familiar with Google Adsense, statistics will become like second nature.  First, just start.

Write interesting content and write every day.

Have more than one site.  The more sites you have, the more ads have the potential
to get clicked.

Set up channels and monitor your statistics across all sites.  If one site is performing
poorly, consider changing the content or the ad layout.  Experiment!

Change the ad layout and notice which layout works the best for you.  There are
many different layout options and there’s no way you can know going in which
one will perform the best.

If you’re blogging, writingup.com has a list of profitable topics.  They state that
you don’t have to write on those topics but  you might give it a try or at least plug
some of them in to the search engines.

Google different key words and phrases and notice how much and what kinds of content and ads you see.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions.

Google Adsense Program Policies make no allowances for deceptive practices.  The most important thing a publisher can do to ensure the integrity of their site is to be aware of what is happening on your site.

Google has made it abundantly clear not to click on your own ads or ask others to do so.  But what about practices a publisher may not purposely carry out?

Make sure that ads associated with Google never appear in an unrequested pop-up.  Don’t be talked into purchasing traffic for your site that may contain adware.

Respect the Google trademarks.  Don’t use any Google trademarks or logos without their consent.

Don’t change the Adsense code.  If you’re a pro at html, don’t assume you can add your own code.  If you’re new to html, simply copy and paste the offered code. Don’t mess with it.

Provide a good environment for advertisers and a positive user experience.  Don’t try to be deceptive in any way.  Google’s rules may sound strict, but believe me, protecting the integrity of the Google Adsense Program is in your best interest as well as Google’s.  After all, a positive, honest Google Adsense program means more money for all of us.