Loading ...The above title may provide a prime opportunity for a tech in-joke about coding, but the language we’re talking about here is a little more common. SEO experts are constantly confusing newcomers to search engine optimisation with the technical terms they casually trot out. On the most part, this does no damage, and is par for the course for a technical subject. There are some areas in which this different attitude to language can cause trouble.
Most SEO experts don’t realise the effect that their labelling habits have on others. Once a word comes into fashion in a technical industry, it gets dragged along until it bears little resemblance to its common meaning. It’s the contrast between a term’s usual meaning and its technical meaning that causes confusion. One of the prime examples of this is the optimisation world’s use of ‘penalty.’
‘Penalty’ terror
Penalty has to be one of the most over-used words in search engine optimization. Just about any step back from a good ranking is seen as a penalty. The industry is constantly full of talk about how Google will penalise sites, when often the effect is the result of tripping a filter or something similarly automated.
SEO experts are often accused of slipping this term too easily into their commentary, presenting a standard search engine quirk as something that is a dire punishment. This is probably largely due to a certain amount of misunderstanding. Often, when the SEO world says ‘penalty’, what is meant is ’setback.’ Others read the word, however, and run screaming for the hills.
The consequences of panic
There are very different steps to be taken for search engine penalties, in comparison to the relatively mild steps you should take when your site suffers a search engine optimisation setback. It’s unlikely any site owner will react the wrong way when they figure out which type of problem they’re facing, but finding this information out in the first place is far from easy.
It’s important to learn how to recognise the signs of a search engine penalty. Instead of your site dropping down a few places in the rankings, you might discover that your pages have been dropped entirely from the index. This situation requires urgent and thorough action if you want to be re-included.
In truth, every negative reaction the search engines have to your site will feel like a penalty, but often, you’re not being penalised at all. Penalised sites are those that have serious groundwork to do before they get back in the search engines’ good books. Sites that have been filtered out for one reason or another can still work their way back in.
The different language of SEO
Just as with any other industry, the SEO industry has its own language that needs to be learnt. The ability of consultants to act as guides is one of the many reasons it can be good to access professional services. You can talk to our team at SEO Consult Australia about SEO for your site.
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Tags: about seo, Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Optimization, SEO, SEO Consult Australia
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