Pittsburgh SEO tactics can be very powerful for growing businesses, but their misuse can produce disastrous results. Though not necessarily illegal, certain Pittsburgh SEO strategies do violate the rules of Google and other top search engines. Fearing this legal and ethical no-man’s land, many search providers will simply sandbox businesses that use these tactics, taking their websites off the first few pages of search results, or even out of their index altogether. It is therefore imperative that entrepreneurs learn to recognize unprincipled search engine optimizers who will put their businesses at risk with these cheap tactics. Here are five practices you’ll never see from a truly professional Pittsburgh SEO company.

1.) High-Volume, Low-Quality Link Purchases

One of the most important aspects of good search engine optimization is quality backlinking from relevant web pages. However, it is possible to purchase hundreds of thousands of nearly-useless backlinks for pennies on the dollar. Unscrupulous SEO companies will make such purchases under the assumption that an artificially boosted link count will actually make your site better in the eyes of the search engines. They are gravely mistaken.

In truth, such a large, fast link buildup will place your website under the careful scrutiny of Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other popular search engines. This practice may not warrant an immediate penalty, but the engines will consider you a spammer once they realize most of your backlinks come from unpopular, unrelated web pages.

Certain SEO gurus claim that link-building penalties don’t actually exist, but that’s not the point. Hundreds, thousands, or even tens of thousands of irrelevant links have nowhere near the sway of a few, authoritative, closely related links in the eyes of the search engines. You get what you pay for, and if you’re going to invest in professional SEO, you want it to be done right. Quality Pittsburgh SEO providers will know how to build plenty of high-PR, Google-friendly backlinks, and they won’t be lured by temptations of quick and easy link purchases.

2.) Random Content Submission

One of the most common misconceptions in online business is that creating and submitting as much content as possible is a great way to establish an internet presence. Site owners and SEO companies will send large volumes of press releases, blurbs, and articles to thousands of publishers. To the search engines, such indiscriminate syndication is nothing but spam. In fact, even attempting so many submissions is a waste of time, since the editors who see your irrelevant content will delete it without a second look.

Even if some of your content makes it into unrelated publications, it’s useless for SEO purposes. One of the main reasons to submit content anywhere is to build backlinks. For instance, Google might like to see that your online supplement shop has links on popular weight lifting blogs. It wouldn’t do you any good, however, to have your shop’s backlinks on sites about cars or video games. In order to make web browsing user-friendly, the search engines have made context king.

In the next installment of What Not to Do: Pittsburgh SEO, we’ll talk about the ways high keyword densities, spam, and convoluted content will turn off web surfers, tarnish your reputation, and kill your chances of high search engine rankings. If you’re ready for professional Pittsburgh SEO assistance now, however, use the links below for a private, free consultation.