The changes that have arisen within search engines since I began working in Internet marketing in 1997 have been far-reaching and indicative of continually changing environment that Internet represents. It therefore stands to reason that techniques required to achieve top organic search engine placements constantly change as well.

Our full guide on legitimate way to optimise your web site for both “organic” search engine listings and your users can be found within our book “Start at Beginning” which can be downloaded here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_2.html

Search engines constantly strive to advance their technology and algorithms in order to provide most relevant search results for their users. Achieving effective results require identification, and ultimately complete eradication of, manipulative search engine optimisation tactics. As Internet marketers, it is up to us to achieve high listings for our customers and this requires that our search engine marketing tactics change and grow with new technology.

Unfortunately there are many search engine optimisation strategies still being used by ill informed or unscrupulous Internet marketers and webmasters that became obsolete a long time ago. In many cases, these strategies are not only ineffective but are now considered spam and can have dire consequences for your rankings and even result in your web site being banned permanently from some engines.

The following is a list of what are now considered within professional Internet marketing world to be Top 10 worst search engine optimisation tactics:

1: Doorway Pages (or Gateway Pages, Information Pages, Ghost pages, etc.) These are generally multiple web pages that are devoid of useful content but heavily optimised for search engine rankings with each page being created for a particular key phrase. The idea of this concept was to fool search engines into thinking that these pages were highly relevant and provide top rankings for them under their targeted phrase. When a surfer came across on page they were often shown a "Click Here to Visit Our Web Site" link that surfer had to click on to actually arrive at legitimate website. Isn’t that what they were trying to do when ended up at this page?

Once among most popular methods of attaining multiple search engine placements, doorway pages were widely used until 2000 by many Internet marketers and web masters. Since then, Doorway pages have become most obvious form of Spam that a search engine can find and repercussions are dire if such a tactic is employed. Unfortunately, many web masters and marketers still employ this tactic and then wonder why they suddenly drop from search engines results after being banned for using this technique.

2: Invisible Text Invisible text is used in a variety of ways in an effort to increase frequency of keywords in body text of a web page. Some methods are: making text same colour as background of web page, hiding text behind layers, placing text at very bottom of over-sized pages, etc.

This tactic is particularly perilously as it is obvious to search engine spiders. In 1999, search engines began implementing automated methods of detection and penalization.

For legitimate ways to use text to greater effect within your web site download a copy of our book “Start at Beginning” here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_2.html

3: Content Misrepresentation Misleading search engines into believing your web page is about topic ‘A' when it is in fact about ‘B'. This tactic was used primarily for promotion of adult, gambling, and other extremely competitive search markets.

Unfortunately this tactic is still in use by unscrupulous web masters and marketers. The fact is that this tactic is simplest for a search engine to identify and result will be swift and complete; banishment from search engine index indefinitely. The worst offence against search engines is to try to fool them.

4: Redirects Redirects have some innocent uses (practical, legal, etc.) but they are also used to mislead search engines by making them believe that page they have indexed is highly relevant to a particular search phrase. When a surfer visits page, however, they don’t see original page and are redirected to an entirely different one.

In most cases search engines have advanced enough to see this technique being used and act accordingly. In fact they usually ignore any page with a redirect (assuming correctly that content is useless) while spidering redirect destination instead, i.e.; page that surfer sees. Redirects, unless blatantly Spam-related do not directly result in intentional ranking penalties; however, they have no positive effect either.

5: Heading Tag Duplication Heading Tags were created to highlight page headings in order of importance. Thus Heading Tags that are available: H1, H2, H3, etc. This duplication technique involves implementing more than one H1 tag into a web page in order to enhance a particular keyword or phrase.

This tactic is still very prevalent and likely still works on some search engines; however, none of major search engines will respond well to this technique as it has been identified as a common manipulation.

Read any Internet marketing article, forum or tutorial these days and you will find that one thing all experts agree on is that you need to have lots of good quality content on your web site. It sounds like good advice doesn't it? But what precisely does it mean?

Simply put, content is all text copy and graphics on your web site. Good content can be defined as information that your visitors will find helpful and that is relevant to their needs. Good content will also enable search engines to crawl and index your web site under key phrases that your customers are searching on. After all, there’s no point in having a brilliantly written sales message within your web site content if your potential customers never find it!

Good content will mean different things to different businesses and exactly what constitutes "good content" depends largely on goal of your web site and products or services you offer.

Web site content can be loosely divided into following page types: Core Web Site Pages These are mainstay pages of your web site. These are pages that explain who you are and detail products, services and information that is available through your web site. The best place to start with "good content" is making sure these pages are as complete as possible and answer all of a user's potential questions. Typical pages that visitors expect to find on every web site are: ·About Us ·Products and/or Services ·Contact Us If you aren't experienced in writing sales copy, it is worth considering hiring a professional copywriter to write (or rewrite!) text for your web site pages. A well-written page tailors style and voice of your message to appeal to your particular customer type. It can make difference between just getting web site visitors and getting visitors that convert into paying customers.

For more information on writing content for your web site download our guide “Writing Text That Sells”. To read an excerpt click here: http://www.enable-uk.co.uk/html/book_3.html

Make your web site’s core pages your first priority before looking at adding other content. Ensure that they are clean, concise and easy-to-read, complete and informative. Ask yourself questions that your customers may ask, do these pages answer these questions, or at least clearly lead to additional complementary pages that contain answers to these questions?

Complementary Pages Complementary pages are pages that enhance and expand on your core site pages. These are “additional information” pages that are your opportunity to really set yourself apart from your competitors and help you make a sale.

For product sites, you could include independent product reviews, printer-friendly product specification pages, product comparison tables, customer feedback and recommendations and help pages that go exceed customer expectations.

For service sites, these pages might detail your expertise, experience and qualifications, your proven track record, existing customer testimonials, common myths and misconceptions about services you offer, or do-it-yourself tips for situations where a professional is not needed.

Complementary pages can also offer additional information about industry recognition, associated bodies you belong to and awards you may have won. They can include mission statements or even statements of your commitment to customer service, lowest price guarantees, etc. These pages aren't critical to operation of your web site, but their content can help differentiate your site from others in field and establish credibility with your visitors. The object is to give them reasons to choose to do business with you rather than your competitors.