Stop me if you've heard this before: "I didn't know that was bad! My web developer said we had to do it so we could rank on the first page of Google. It's not my fault, why are they penalizing me?"

If I had a dollar for every time a small business owner told me something like that ... well, you know the rest. Of course, ignorance is not a defense and the business owner is responsible for the mistakes of the people he hired to create and market his Web site.

Small business owners are getting smarter about search marketing, but spam remains a gray area for many. Education is the solution. And fortunately, many search engines and web directories do their best to provide answers. Let's look at how various web directories and search engines define spam:

Search Engine Spam

GOOGLE

Most search engines would consider as "spam" almost any extreme measure aimed at getting a Web page to rank well. In its Webmaster Help Center, Google includes the following in its definition of spam:

• "deceptive or misleading content ... such as doorway pages or 'throwaway' domains"
• "free-for-all links" and "link popularity schemes"
• "the creation of 'shadow' domains that funnel users to a site by using deceptive redirects"
• placing "'doorway' pages loaded with keywords on the client's site somewhere"

More helpful is Google's Webmaster Guidelines page, which includes this list of things not to do:

• Avoid hidden text or hidden links.
• Don't use cloaking or sneaky redirects.
• Don't send automated queries to Google.
• Don't load pages with irrelevant keywords.
• Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content.
• Don't create pages that install viruses, trojans, or other badware.
• Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content.

YAHOO!

Yahoo offers a list of "unwanted" content in its Search Content Quality Guidelines, but does so in even greater detail than Google:

• Pages that harm accuracy, diversity or relevance of search results
• Pages dedicated to directing the user to another page (doorway pages)
• Multiple sites or pages offering substantially the same content
• Pages that rely heavily on content or links to content created for another web site, such as affiliate content
• Sites with numerous, unnecessary virtual hostnames
• Pages in great quantity, automatically generated or of little value (cookie-cutter pages)
• Pages using methods to artificially inflate search engine ranking
• The use of text or links hidden from the user
• Pages that give the search engine different content than what the end user sees (cloaking)
• Sites cross-linked excessively with other sites to inflate a site's apparent popularity (link schemes)
• Pages built primarily for the search engines or pages with excessive or irrelevant keywords
• Misuse or inaccurate use of competitor or brand names
• Sites that use excessive pop-ups, install malware (i.e. spyware, viruses, trojans), or interfering with user navigation
• Pages that seem deceptive, fraudulent, or provide a poor user experience

MSN/LIVE SEARCH

MSN's Live Search isn't nearly as informative when it comes to defining spam for webmasters. They offer only three "techniques" in their Live.com Help that "aren't appropriate uses of the Live Search index."

• Attempting to increase a page's keyword density by add lots of irrelevant words. This includes stuffing ALT tags that users are unlikely to view.
• Using hidden text or links. Only use text and links that are visible to users.
• Using techniques, such as link farms, to artificially increase the number of links to your page.

Web Directory Spam

Web directories are yellow page-like sites that generally require you to submit your site first, and then wait for the site to be reviewed and possibly approved for listing in the directory. Most Web directories have guidelines about the types of sites they will and won't list. And most also have guidelines for how to submit your site.

YAHOO! DIRECTORY

The Yahoo Directory doesn't clearly describe what it considers "spam," which is probably due to the fact that -- at $299 per submission -- they don't have to deal with as much spam as directories that don't charge. Still, in the TOS of their Yahoo! Express submission program, Yahoo says they don't want you to submit:

• a site that already exists in the directory
• a site that isn't finished
• a site that directs the user to another page
• a site that gives the search engine different content than end users

Yahoo does provide a specific warning about resubmitting your site to its directory, and warns that doing so too often will be considered spam: "...please wait two to three weeks between submissions. If you submit more often than that, your submissions to Yahoo! run the risk of being considered spam."

OPEN DIRECTORY

The Open Directory Project (ODP), which doesn't charge to list a site in its directory, is much clearer about what tactics and types of sites it considers "spam":

• "mirror sites" -- sites that have the same content but at different URLs
• "sites with overlapping and repetitive content"
• submitting the same URL more than once.
• a "site with an address that redirects to another address"
• "sites with illegal content"
• "sites that are incomplete"
• "sites consisting largely of affiliate links"

Doing any of these things will likely lead to your submission being rejected.

CONCLUSION

I can already hear you saying: "Wait! I see sites that do stuff like this at the top of the search results!"

You're right. The search results for some terms include sites that break the rules. These techniques can work in the short-term, but in most industries they rarely succeed over the long haul.

In the end, it's the Web site owner's responsibility to know the rules and the risks of ignoring them.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. Are the search engines clear enough about what they consider "spam"?
2. Are they too restrictive about defining spam?
3. Which search engine does the best job of keeping spam out of its index?