JCPenney, the world's largest clothing seller and one of the largest e-commerce retailers in the United States, has been in the headlines recently after being punished by Google for some of its questionable search engine optimization practices.
Background: The New York Times recently published an article titled "Search Optimization and Its Secrets," which explores JCPenney's questionable dominance of search during the holiday season and Google's response to its spam-like activities. In response, the brand ended up not on the list.
The New York Times gathered evidence that JCPenney used a number of search engine optimization tactics behind the scenes, including placing irrelevant link placements on irrelevant websites.
Google's spam team investigated the matter and punished the brand by pulling it from the first page of search results to the sixth or seventh page.
Question: What went wrong with this brand’s approach?
Search engines such as Google evaluate the relevance and quality of a website for a specific keyword based on a large number of factors. Google's primary goal is to provide a good user experience to ensure users come back. They hope that for a given keyword, the website can provide the most relevant content and be ranked at the top of the search results page. In the algorithm used in this evaluation, internal links to a website are one of the most important factors.
All else being equal, the more links in the target text (hyperlinks) that point to your website for a target keyword, the higher you will rank for that keyword. That said, not all links are created equally, and not all methods of purchasing inbound links are legitimate.
Google seems to take a disapproval of links from irrelevant or unauthoritative websites. A link from an automotive website to a retail website selling household goods is considered irrelevant and may actually be harmful. Links from a site that is purely a link to another site (also known as a "navigation site") can also damage your site's reputation. Google will also become suspicious if the number of links pointing to a site increases significantly in a short period of time. Thousands of links are collected in a month, but the website only purchases 10 to 20 links in this month, which may indicate that some link scheme is underway. Finally, the use of web pages or mirror sites that are specifically targeted at search engines (rather than users) can also arouse Google's suspicion.
Essentially, any activity with ulterior motives, whether it is purely to manipulate search engine rankings and/or is detrimental to users, will eventually get a red card from Google. Any of these suspicious or deceptive activities, often referred to as "spam" or "black hat SEO", will generally be punished by Google - a ranking reduction or, in some extreme cases, removal from the index altogether. .
JCPenney’s method includes a variety of the above-mentioned suspicious behaviors, so it has also been given a red card by Google: 1. A large increase in links in a short period of time; 2. Links and spam from irrelevant websites; 3. Mirror websites hosted by proxy servers. , rather than the main JCPenney domain name.
What inspirations did we get from it?
In the world of SEO, patience is everything. Anything that appears to be a “quick fix” may be detrimental in the long run. It takes time to ensure quality and link relevance, so as to maintain rankings for a long time.
Some suggestions for SEO strategies:
1. User first: If the link does not apply to users, it does not apply to search engines;
2. The focus is on creating high-value, relevant content and perfect user experience, so that other websites will naturally reprint it;
3. Treat link creation as an ongoing activity rather than a once-a-year activity;
4. Pay more attention to quality rather than quantity. Some links from reliable sources will spread more widely online than hundreds of links from smaller, less relevant sites;
5. Use paid search to strengthen your online presence during key times, such as back-to-school or holidays.
6. Plan your SEO efforts ahead of time so that these links will be effective over time rather than in the short term.
7. Choose specific keywords for each major section or page of your website rather than choosing broad, all-encompassing keywords.