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A Google hand-edit is when a Google engineer manually goes through your web site/back links and gives you the ranking that they think you deserve.
If Google finds that your web site violates their webmaster guidelines, you’re web site will probably be penalized.
The importance of avoiding a Google hand-edit
For many web sites the only way to compete for some keywords is by ignoring Google’s webmaster guidelines and buying links. This is because the competition is doing it and it works really well.
Many businesses are in business because of their Google rankings. A penalty due to a Google hand-edit could put them out of business. Web sites that avoid being edited do well for themselves.
How to tell if you’ve been served a penalty by Google because of a hand-edit
The best way to tell if Google has penalized your web site is by searching for the name of your web site. If it’s no where near the top of the first page or where it use to be, then you’re probably the lucky recipient of a Google hand-edit and a penalty. Check to see if it’s on the fourth or fifth page, because Google likes to give +30, +40 or +50 penalties as Text Link Ads recently experienced.
5 things you can do to avoid a Google hand-edit
The best way to avoid a Google hand-edit is to follow their webmaster guidelines. But for those who break the rules, here are a few suggestions:
- Avoid unrelated site-wide inbound links from high Page Rank web sites
One of the worst things you can do for your web site is buy a bunch of site-wide links from a web site with a high Page Rank. Most of those links probably won’t help you much in the rankings and will only make your web site stand out. Something you don’t want.
- Avoid the urge to buy a bunch of links all at once
A natural-looking link pattern will have a consistent link growth. If you do buy links, don’t do it all at once. Spread your purchases out over a matter of months.
- Avoid talking about your web sites
Don’t talk about your web sites that don’t follow Google’s webmaster guidelines. Especially if it’s an SEO blog that gets a lot of traffic. The last thing you’d want is for somebody to report you to Google.
- Avoid being too successful with your link baiting
Aaron Wall recently posted about a couple friends who lost their rankings after a Google hand-edit. The cause of the hand-edit was that they did too good of a job with their link baiting. This might be one of those rare cases when it pays to be unexceptional.
- Spend millions on Pay Per Click
Google is less likely to penalize web sites that don’t play by the rules, if they spend a lot of money with them on Pay Per Click.
For those who don’t play by Google’s rules, the key to avoiding a Google hand-edit is staying below the radar. Good luck.
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