For the past six months, Google has been rewarding several websites using techniques that are considered spamming. We constantly see hidden text, keyword stuffing, cloaking and false-link networks used as ranking tools by websites that really shouldn’t be ranking in the Top10. This has led to a general discussion in the SEO community about the use of Spam techniques, with most SEOs continuing to rally against the practice. We agree with the majority of our colleagues in advising against using tricks designed to fool search engines or techniques that run afoul of the best practices guides posted at most search engines. Eventually, Google will start to follow its own rules against Spam and devalue the rankings of sites that use illegal techniques. We feel that Google will soon be in a position where it has to take a very hard line in order to preserve the perceived integrity of their listings as their strongest tool in the ongoing search engine war.

Here’s a way to avoid feeling you need to spam… If you have a large site, get as many relevant incoming links as possible. If you have a smaller site, try to use keywords and keyword phrases for 1 out of every 12 (or so) words on the page. Whatever you do, don’t use spam, it will end up haunting you long into the future when (and it will happen) your tactics are ultimately noted by a significant search engine.