Sometimes it seems like Google has morphed into a big bully or possibly an evil, insane, fickle monster that is trying to turn us all into nervous wrecks who are constantly walking on eggshells. If the content on a page hasn't changed for a long time, Google will punish you, but if it changes too much, Google will punish you. Google wants every web site to be about one subject, so if you have a page about butterflies and another page about tigers, Google will cough and sputter and think you're up to no good. If you don't link to other web sites, Google doesn't like it, but if you link to other web sites that Google doesn't think are related to the one and only one subject that your web site is supposed to have, you will be punished. Google is also more than happy to assume that any link on your site is a paid link and you'll get punished. If your natural way of writing repeats the same word too many times, Google will think you are keyword spamming and punish you for that too.

Google says that you shouldn't worry about search engines and just make content for your visitors, but if you do that, Google will punish you. If your web site is about more than one subject, you are in trouble. Your useful links will be seen as paid links or unrelated links or bad neighborhood links and you will be punished. If you write naturally without a thought about search engines, you will overuse keywords and you will be punished. You can't be natural and focus on your visitors. If you want Google to pat you on the head and rub your tummy, you'll have to become the little boot-licking puppy that Google wants you to be and change everything you do naturally and focus on what Google wants, not what you or your visitors might want.

Some will say "if you think Google is so evil, why worry about what Google thinks?" Google is the top search engine. If Google punishes you, your traffic will decrease and you'll make less money. If you want to pay the bills and put food on the table, you either follow Google's unclear, conflicting, and ever-changing unwritten rules or you go broke.

I love Google because I get more traffic from Google than anywhere else, but I also feel like I'm on the ground with the boot of a bully on my throat. It's very hard to please the bully because you never know what might upset him next.

Random Terrain

_