If you were in any doubt about how important it is to approach SEO properly by building up great content for your site, just take a look at Interflora.
The company has been removed from Google rankings for manipulating links to improve its search ranking.
According to Google, the flower seller has been selling links to bypass PageRank, which goes against all that's good and true in the world of SEO.
In a blog post for Google Webmaster, engineer Matt Cutts outlined the reasons for the decision to strike Interflora.
"Google has said for years that selling links that pass PageRank violates our quality guidelines. We continue to reiterate that guidance periodically to help remind site owners and webmasters of that policy," he wrote.
He added: "Selling links (or entire advertorial pages with embedded links) that pass PageRank violates our quality guidelines, and Google does take action on such violations."
The first consequence for a site that sells links is that it will start losing trust in Google's search results, as well as reduction of the site's visible PageRank in the Google Toolbar.
Another consequence could be lower rankings for that site in Google's search results, explained Cutts.
"We do take this issue very seriously, so we recommend you avoid selling (and buying) links that pass PageRank in order to prevent loss of trust, lower PageRank in the Google Toolbar, lower rankings, or in an extreme case, removal from Google's search results," he concluded.
All this does is reaffirm the stance that great content is the best way to improve search rankings. Why? Because truly great website content is the only reason another site will link to yours.
Find out how great content marketing can help your business reach the top of Google
The company has been removed from Google rankings for manipulating links to improve its search ranking.
According to Google, the flower seller has been selling links to bypass PageRank, which goes against all that's good and true in the world of SEO.
In a blog post for Google Webmaster, engineer Matt Cutts outlined the reasons for the decision to strike Interflora.
"Google has said for years that selling links that pass PageRank violates our quality guidelines. We continue to reiterate that guidance periodically to help remind site owners and webmasters of that policy," he wrote.
He added: "Selling links (or entire advertorial pages with embedded links) that pass PageRank violates our quality guidelines, and Google does take action on such violations."
The first consequence for a site that sells links is that it will start losing trust in Google's search results, as well as reduction of the site's visible PageRank in the Google Toolbar.
Another consequence could be lower rankings for that site in Google's search results, explained Cutts.
"We do take this issue very seriously, so we recommend you avoid selling (and buying) links that pass PageRank in order to prevent loss of trust, lower PageRank in the Google Toolbar, lower rankings, or in an extreme case, removal from Google's search results," he concluded.
All this does is reaffirm the stance that great content is the best way to improve search rankings. Why? Because truly great website content is the only reason another site will link to yours.
Find out how great content marketing can help your business reach the top of Google
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