Fear The Google Blacklist

Internet metrics company Hitwise on Wednesday published a cautionary tale about the dangers of excessive search engine optimization.

Search engine optimization (SEO) aims to make a Web site appear higher up on search results pages for keywords related to the Web site's business.

GoCompare.com, a U.K.-based car insurance comparison site, apparently used SEO techniques to reach the number one position for the term "car insurance" on Google's U.K. site.

Then, according to Hitwise U.K. research director Robin Goad, the site got blacklisted by Google, presumably because the SEO techniques it used violated Google's rules.

Google has a lengthy list of rules for Web site owners about what is and isn't acceptable. And Google makes the consequences clear: "If an SEO creates deceptive or misleading content on your behalf, such as doorway pages or 'throwaway' domains, your site could be removed entirely from Google's index," Google explains. "Ultimately, you are responsible for the actions of any companies you hire, so it's best to be sure you know exactly how they intend to 'help' you."

The penalty for breaking these rules (and getting caught) can be devastating for online businesses.

"[S]ince being 'blacklisted' it has dropped down the listings and, at the time of writing, is currently on the seventh page of listings -- i.e. well outside of the top 10," said Robin Goad, research director of Hitwise U.K., in a blog post.

A spokesperson from GoCompare.com wasn't immediately available to confirm what had happened. But the company's listing is indeed on the seventh search results page for Google.co.uk.

To hammer the point home, Goad's post includes a graph that shows GoCompare.com's search traffic dropping 87% between the 26th of January, when it held the number one spot for "car insurance," and the 9th of February. During the same period, the company's competitors saw their share of traffic generated from "car insurance" searches rise.

Goad says the GoCompare.com's experience "illustrates the fine balance that needs to be achieved between effective SEO and breaking the 'rules.'" It also demonstrates why Google is feared.