Forbes recently published an article dealing with search engine optimization and the problem of having rankings penalized for certain types of links. The author argues that although such penalties are a real risk, that risk is generally overblown. And it’s easy to see why he makes that claim. Your local SEO company can’t really just stumble into a bad set of links and earn you a penalty without realizing it.
However, if you’re handling SEO and web marketing on your own, it might just be possible for you to seek out certain types of realize while being personally oblivious to the fact that they will be flagged by Google. In other words, a decent local SEO company will know the difference between good and bad links (of white-hat and black-hat SEO), even though an inexperienced site owner might just think of bad links as handy tricks.
In fact, as I’ve pointed out in other instances, there are an awful lot of unscrupulous SEO “professionals” out there who will actually encourage that misconception, since some inbound links might boost your ranking over the short term, only to incur a penalty later. You can avoid falling in to that trap, first and foremost, by avoiding local SEO companies that make unrealistic promises.
Beyond that, you can learn to differentiate deceptive tricks from best practices by regularly reading this blog and others like it. But the single best way to avoid stumbling into penalties is by vetting and then hiring a competent SEO company in Los Angeles, in another social media hotspot, or in your local area.
