An overview of the Google Over Optimization filter

Google Over Optimization filter

If someone told you that the race to the top spot in Google search engine rankings is not easy, then he is probably telling the truth. As you enter the World Wide Web, you desperately want to be noticed. You want traffic to start flowing to your website and your website to be in the top of search engine results. But this is not possible.

At least it’s not possible to do his in a legitimate manner. In an aim to hit the top faster than the rest, some people create web pages for search engines rather than web users. These pages are called over optimized pages and they use a series of strategies to attempt to fool search engines.

These websites contain more competitive keyword phrases which have little or no link to the overall content of the page.

Google has a filter called the ‘Google Over Optimization filter’ which uses an algorithm to detect such web pages. The penalty is severe.

The penalty and avoiding Google over optimization Filter

It is said that the Google Over Optimization filter is also called the ‘-950 penalty filter’ because the ranking of that website goes down by 950 positions.

Yes, this is exactly what happens to any website that uses over optimization techniques. Most webmasters find that their website is suffering in the search engine rankings owing to a filter. But they have no clue why they have been filtered. How do you know if your website is over optimized?

It’s simple really. Do not employ each and every strategy that you read in a search engine optimization forum. The usage of the H1 tag is one such element. While many SEO users suggest that you use the H1 tag for keywords, there are others who suggest that you avoid them. Analyze to know what strategy top ranking web pages have used.

A look at Google spam filters

Ever since google became the search engine king, the responsibility on its shoulders has increased. The onus is on Google to keep its search results free of spam and fake websites to make every search a worthwhile experience for its users.

Considering that thousands of websites are created every day and a lot of these might be spam websites, the job isn’t easy at all. So google has created a set of manual and automated filters called as google spam filters.

Google spam filters

The aim of these filters is simple enough. Any website that uses illegitimate techniques to gain an undue advantage in search engine rankings will be greyed out and put into an imaginary quarantine zone.

In the quarantine zone the page rank of the website will suffer and according to the filter that has been applied, it can even go below hundred. To get out of the quarantine, the website has to stop using those spam techniques or it may have to wait till the penalty time period is over.

The top 3

The existence of these filters has been a widely debated topic amongst SEO specialists around the world. Some SEO experts go up to the extent of saying that there is about 15 google spam filters now. But there are some who say that there are none. Nevertheless, here are the top 3 Google spam filters that are said to be in use now.

• The sandbox: The google sandbox filter is a filter that prevents new websites from getting high rankings in search results. Every new website created will automatically go into the sandbox and as it ages, its credibility will increase. Gradually, the website will start faring better in search results.

• The Trust Rank: This is a very important filter and it takes into account the age, the quality of the inbound links of the website and the content. The trust rank means that google trusts your website.

• The domain age: This is another filter that does not allow newer domains to get high rankings.