Often we get asked to do search engine optimization for various clients who have existing websites. We will review the websites, and we are amazed at the blantant mistakes made by the previous webmasters. Some of those mistakes are;

• Using images in place of text.
• No use of alt text in value added images.
• Over use of images.
• Lack of headings tags.
• Poorly written title and description tags.

What do these all mean?

Using Images in Place of Text - Often, you will see a logo in the corner of a website with a company slogan, or a bulleted list of services on a website that are no more than an image. A search engine spider can not read the text in an image, it sees it as nothing more than an image. To see what your website looks like to a search engine spider, go to http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/spider-simulator/

No Use of Alt Text - When writing your html and inserting images, you will probably enter code that looks something like this…Â
img src=”images/website_hosting2.gif” mce_src=”images/website_hosting2.gif” alt=”website hosting” width=”16″ height=”16″ border=”0″

Notice the alt= part. This is an opportunity to associate the image with a valuable keyword, be be aware of keyword stuffing as alt tags are intended for ease of navigation for individuals with disabilities.

OverUse of Images - This has more of an impact on the visitors browsing experience and has an impact on load time of your website. Overuse of images can dilute your keyword density as well. Remember, content is king.

Missing Heading Tags - Headings tags are used to give emphasis to certain words or paragraphs within the context of your website. This is typically done by using a H1, H2, H3 or other H tag. These tags tell the search engine spiders that particular emphasis should be put on this term when evaluating what the website is about.

Poorly Written Title and Description - This is just what it implies. A poorly written title or description of your site can have a devestating effect on your seo efforts.

Additional on page factors that impact SEO that aren’t as obvious are;

• Poor code to text ratio.
• Content too far down in the code.
• Low or excessive keyword ratios.
• Low keyword prominance.
• Excessive use of tables.
• Use of frames.
• URL Structuring for dynamic websites.
• Duplicate Content/Canonical Issues.
• No Site Map
• Excessive Use of Java or other scripting.Â

The lists above do not address all potential SEO killers. Addressing these items alone does not guarantee successful placement in SERPS (Search Engine Placement Results), but one can not have a successful seo campaign by ignoring these. When designing your website, make sure that you are observing SEO Best Practices. Doing so will make your seo campaign much easier in the long run.

I have read of a Google 30 point penalty with increasing frequency in the past 3 days. I have seen it mentioned at webmasterworld.com and Webproworld.com.

From Webmasterworld

Hello everyone, I just got my site rank #31 on its own domain name and bunch of keywords/phrases I usually watch were bumped from #1 to precisely #31. Those #2 through #10 are sort of all over the map but generally within the first 60 results. Does anyone have some experience with this? What would the respectful audience here think a most likely reason for such penalty is? What do you suggest as the best strategy to fix this? There has not been any major redesign recently, just routine adding pages here and there. Some unique, some syndicated industry-related content. Thanks for any idea or comment

From Webproworld

I need some help about my webpage http://www.manolyahotel.com/
it was number one at google when you search with ”north cyprus hotel” but it is not anymore. my site lost for a few months and now I can only see it number 30 or 31 . I hope someone help me about this. thank you

Various SEO experts that watch Google very closely propose that this could be a form of graduated penalty based on the severity of the infraction where a 30 position penalty would be the first level, a 40 position penalty being the second level and so on…How can you tell if you may be subject to this 30 Position Google Penalty?
Well, according to some posters, you would conduct a search on google for your domain name without the www or the .com/net/org, etc. If your site is listed at #31, then you may be subject to this penalty.

Who issues the penalty?
It is believed that this penalty is automated. Webmasterworld Admin Tedster said:

I’ve seen urls get a -30 and then seen that penalty removed in stages over several weeks after some condition was fixed. It sure looked automated to me. No, I can’t prove that, except to say that Matt Cutts talked about wanting to do some automated penalties with automated removal quite a while ago. And in general, Google always looks to automate wherever they can because “it scales”.

The penalty could be anything from keyword stuffing to abuse of anchor text in a shady reciprocal linking campaign.