10 mistakes that get your website banned from Google

Are you aware of the mistakes that can get your website banned from Google?  We all strive for the top search engine rankings. It is the best way to generate traction organically and engage the right audience without spending a lot on ads.

To climb the SERPs, we create meaningful content, build quality links, improve the load time of our sites, and offer an enhanced experience on different devices. However, we’re humans, after all. We get careless at times and make blunders that may lead to major repercussions. Among the worst outcomes you can expect is a ban from Google.

You may be wondering about the mistakes that can lead to that. Don’t worry! We’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll explore the reasons why Google may impose a search engine ban so you can avoid it happening to your website.

What is a search engine ban?

Did you know that 96.55% of pages get no traffic from Google? There may be a number of reasons for it. One of them is the website getting banned by the search engine.

What’s a search engine ban, you may ask?  It occurs when Google kicks you out of its referral club. The search engine giant won’t display your pages among the recommendations it gives to its users in response to your relevant keywords.

In most cases, Google’s algorithm triggers a website ban. It’s constantly evolving and won’t hesitate to ban your site if it notices something fishy.

The search engine can also choose to ban your site manually. If you think you have discovered a hack to fly under Google’s radar, you’re mistaken. The search engine will catch up to you sooner or later.

The good news is that the Google ban may not last forever. You can get back into Google’s good books by learning from your mistakes and fixing the wrongs that led to the ban.

Sticking to the search engine’s guidelines is your way of reassuring Google that you will not repeat the same mistakes and will play by the book this time. Things may not go back to the way they were quickly. Just be patient and continue doing the right thing. 

Exploring Google’s guidelines

To stick to Google’s guidelines, you have to know them first. Let us walk you through them in a way that’s easy to understand. You can think of these guidelines as the search engine’s rulebook. They comprise Search Essentials and Ad Policies.

Google Search Essentials

You can think of Search Essentials as your ultimate guide to getting top rankings on the SERPs with respect to the targeted keywords. They help you stand out from competing pages and showcase your value to the search engine.

Google wants to offer its users a seamless search and information navigation experience. Search Essentials comprise the list of rules that help the search engine choose its top picks. You need to make sure that your website is technically optimized. It needs to have a well-thought-out content structure to facilitate search engine crawling and quick load time. Plus, it should be mobile-friendly and offer a decent user experience on different screen sizes and browsers.

Furthermore, you must publish relevant and insightful content on your website. Google is very good at assessing the value of the information you provide to your target audience. The search engine wants you to publish content to help your visitors, not to achieve high search engine rankings.

To put it simply, Search Essentials helps you follow SEO best practices and create helpful content for your visitors. Consider it a list of do’s and don’ts or a checklist for growing your search engine presence.

Google Ad Policies

Just because you’re spending money to generate traction through Google doesn’t mean that you can do whatever you want. You must follow Google’s ad policies and consider it a rulebook when it comes to paid advertising. If you violate them, the search engine will ban you from running ads through the platform.

Google strongly promotes transparency and user safety through its ad policies. So, as long as you’re honest and not misleading your audience, you don’t have to worry about anything. To be honest, how can you be upset with Google if the search engine decides to ban you for dishonesty?

If you don’t want to violate Google’s ad policies, you should be upfront about who you are and what you’re selling. Make sure that the information published on your landing page aligns with your ad. 

You should refrain from leveraging misleading pricing strategies or false scarcity tactics. And it goes without saying that you should never promote prohibited products. Focus on helping your audience find fitting solutions to their problems. Helpful ads likely get more clicks. Playing by the rules pays off more than you think it does.

Be straightforward with your audience and back up the claims you make in your ads. Be proactive and periodically review the ad policies for potential changes. This will help you avoid the critical mistakes you’ll likely make when running ads.

Mistakes leading to a ban from Google

There are a lot of factors that could potentially lead to a ban from Google. We’ll be focusing on the critical mistakes you should avoid making to stay in Google’s good books.

Content scraping

Content scraping is when you steal content published by other websites and present it as your own. Google is really good at catching this, and you can’t expect to recover from it soon.

How can you expect things to go right when you’re technically stealing from someone else? This mistake can destroy everything you’ve built and cause you to lose your search rankings overnight.

Content scraping causes you to publish duplicate content, which may have a devastating impact on your search engine performance. Google doesn’t like seeing the same content published on different websites, as it makes things confusing for its web crawler. 

It’s difficult to assess the credibility of different pages offering the same value. However, the search engine eventually discovers the originator of the information and decides on its rankings accordingly. It may not lead to an immediate ban, but if you’re persistent, you may lose your authority over time and eventually face adverse consequences.

Link spam

Building links complements your search engine performance. It helps you build authority and fuels your online presence. However, things may not go well when you try to build loads of poor-quality backlinks through unfair means for higher rankings.

It’s called link spam when you try to strengthen your backlink profile artificially, which may eventually lead to a Google ban. Google takes link spam seriously because natural backlinks are like votes of confidence from other relevant websites. 

When you build them artificially through spam tactics, you’re trying to manipulate the system. It never goes well for you, as Google’s algorithm has evolved to be very good at spotting link spam. There’s nothing wrong with adding more links to your backlink profile, but you must always do it through fair means.

You must avoid shady link-building tactics, such as buying links in bulk, participating in link exchange schemes, using automated tools, and creating private blog networks (PBNs). If Google catches you, you may see a sudden ranking drop, which may eventually lead to a search engine ban.

Keyword stuffing

Keyword stuffing is when you cram your target keywords into your content unnaturally, thinking it will help you convince Google to rank you higher. You repeat your focus keywords unnecessarily in content, ignoring the context and readability of your published information.

Some may even try to be discreet about it and add invisible text loaded with keywords to their pages. Google’s algorithm can easily detect when you’re trying to game the system and hit you with a penalty or completely de-index your website.

Adding relevant keywords to your content is a useful strategy to improve your search engine rankings as long as they fit into the context. Your focus should be on producing helpful content that caters to what your visitors are looking for and helps them find answers to their questions, as Google rewards content that provides value.

Cloaking

Cloaking refers to hiding information from Google’s crawlers. You make certain information available to your visitors but try to hide it from Google. Google wants to provide reliable information to its users by displaying relevant search results. When you show its crawlers a different version than the one your visitors see, you’re basically lying to both Google and your visitors.

Different things may count as cloaking, such as the use of invisible text to make your content appear keyword-rich, misleading redirects, or displaying different content based on IP addresses. To put it simply, you have two separate identities: one for search engines and the other for your visitors.

Google considers cloaking a serious offense, which may lead to completely removing your site from search results. Trying to make things right when cloaking is extremely difficult. So, you must remain transparent and display the same content to everyone.

Plagiarism

The consequences of publishing plagiarized content are similar to those of content scraping. One difference is that plagiarism can sometimes be unintentional. So, you have a chance to make things right and convince Google to lift the ban.

Google’s algorithm can scan millions of pages online. So, you can’t expect to steal someone else’s content and get away with it.

Publishing plagiarized content may cause you to lose your current rankings. The long-term impact can be losing your domain authority and, in some cases, completely removing your website from search results for good.

You may think there’s nothing wrong when you use the same product descriptions as your competitors. You’re wrong! Even though your products have the same features, you can’t copy someone else’s descriptions. The algorithm will catch up to you and make you pay.

Deceitful redirects

The use of deceitful redirects is a sure-shot way to get under Google’s skin. You’re trying to trick your visitors, and the search engine giant doesn’t like it one bit. Ever landed on a different page than the one you expected to visit when you clicked a particular link? That’s deceitful redirects in action.

Such redirects can severely influence your page rankings, tank your reputation, and lead to a temporary penalty or a permanent search engine ban. There’s nothing wrong with setting redirects on your pages. Sometimes, it’s important to do so, like in situations where you switch to a different domain or fix broken links.

However, doing so to deceive your visitors may lead to severe repercussions. So, you must always be transparent and avoid setting redirects without probable cause.

User-generated spam

Leveraging social proof is one of the most effective ways to engage the intended audience. People are less likely to trust unfamiliar sites. So, positive reviews and recommendations from others convince them to make a purchase.

Social proof also influences your search rankings, as good reviews send strong positive signals to the search engine. However, it may do more harm than good when you resort to user-generated spam to get higher rankings.

Even when it’s unintentional, user-generated spam may severely affect your search engine performance. For example, having an unmoderated comment section is a recipe for disaster. People may post comments through fake profiles and sketchy links, for which Google may hold you responsible.

The best way to avoid this is to use strong spam filters and moderate comments regularly. You must also avoid publishing fake reviews, as this technically counts as manipulating your audience.

Misrepresentation

Misrepresentation is when you lie to your visitors and pretend to be someone else. Google takes such maneuvers very seriously and may ban your website permanently. It may even get you into legal trouble, as it counts as impersonation.

For example, you may promote yourself as another reputable brand in your respective industry with a huge customer base, thinking it may get you more traction. It will do more harm than good. You can’t escape Google’s radar. Instead, focus on authenticity and staying updated with branding trends to build a unique identity that resonates with your audience and strengthens your credibility.

When it comes to misrepresentation, you can make a few mistakes and recover from them, such as making false claims about your solutions, hiding important business information, or creating fake scarcity. However, when you pretend to be another brand in your industry, you are asking Google for a permanent ban.

Just be honest about who you are and what you offer. Back up your claims when marketing your solutions and cultivate trust with your audience through transparency.

Promoting prohibited products or content

Google is very clear about the products or services that you should never promote. For example, you should never promote the sale of illegal substances, counterfeit products, or explicit content through the platform.

Failing to abide by those guidelines may cause the search engine to ban you permanently. No matter how smart you are, the algorithm will eventually catch you and de-index your entire site.

You may think that the search engine will issue a stern warning first, but it won’t. It’ll bring down the hammer, causing your site to disappear from search results instantly.

You must always double-check Google’s policies before listing anything on your website. Keep an eye on the updates, as the list may change over time.

Poor website security

Google cares about its users. If your website threatens the users’ security, you can’t expect to perform well in the search rankings.

Google treats websites with weak security protocols differently compared to the rest. Potential visitors may encounter unsafe website warnings and see the following message when they try to access your website, especially when using Chrome:

Sometimes, it may not necessarily be your fault when your website grapples with security issues. You may be a victim of a malicious attack. However, Google doesn’t take any chances when your website security is weak.

To improve your website’s security, you must monitor essential software or plugin updates, use strong passwords, install an SSL certificate, periodically scan for potential malicious attacks, and consider other necessary measures.

It’s not rocket science to be in Google’s good graces

Google has a clear list of do’s and don’ts. Exploring the search engine guidelines tells you the things you should avoid to climb the SERPs steadily without any hiccups.

It’s all about offering users an enhanced information navigation experience and helping them find suitable solutions to their problems. Google doesn’t want you to impress them but rather to embrace a people-focused philosophy in which you genuinely try to help your target audience.

If you keep this in mind, it’ll be easier for you to avoid the mistakes that can potentially harm your search engine rankings. You’ll be able to cultivate trust and build authority in your industry, which guarantees lasting relationships with the intended audience.