Google penalties: how to destroy our search engine positioning
Within the set of digital marketing strategies, organic positioning in search engines has the main objective of achieving visibility on platforms such as Google, which then translate into a growth in traffic to our websites. In this sense, the discipline of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is in charge of implementing a series of on-page and off-page tactics in order to promote search engine algorithms to index our sites among the first results, since these results are the ones that concentrate a higher click through rate (CTR). In this attempt to adapt the websites to the requirements rewarded by the algorithms, ignorance or trickery may cause sites to be over-optimised, which is interpreted by search engines as attempts to manipulate or cheat the algorithm. If detected, websites that have carried out these actions, whether consciously or unconsciously, are penalised by platforms such as Google. These penalties cause large drops in positions on the results page or, in the worst-case scenarios, a complete delisting of the website, which disappears from search engines, causing the site to lose visibility and the long-term work involved in SEO to be destroyed. In this article, we will recognize the types of penalties and the reasons why Google and other search engines punish websites, as well as a series of techniques to correct these punishments.
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Mariché Navío NavarroMariché Navío works on different projects in the online communication and digital marketing sector, balancing her teaching and research work with her professional career. She received her doctorate from the CEU San Pablo University, a Master’s Degree in Interactive Marketing and New Media (IEBS) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism (USPCEU) and Multimedia Communication (USPCEU), in addition to the University Title in New Technologies (USPCEU). She is currently studying a Post-Graduate degree in Big Data Marketing (IEBS) and a University Specialisation Course for Meditation and Mindfulness Instructors (Miguel de Cervantes European University). As a lecturer, she teaches several subjects about communications on social networks, SEO and marketing and online advertising in the CEU San Pablo University. She is also a Course instructor in the Open University of Catalonia for the University Master’s Degree in Digital Marketing, where she teaches the SEO subject and directs Master’s Theses. As a professional, she is the co-founder and director of the start-up Dygeat, an application for the catering sector. She also founded and directs Communitools.com, a comprehensive website that provides online training for communications professionals and students through gamification mechanisms. She is also the co-founder of Funadtics, a communication and digital marketing agency. Currently, Mariché is a Member on the Board of Directors of the Spanish Association of Journalism and Technological Information (AEPITEC) and a member of the Spanish Journalism Society (SEP).
