Believe me – Google is always your friend. Even when Google seems like your enemy, Google is your friend.
Google is and will remain for the foreseeable future the dominant player in search by a long way. There are big players whose lifespan as the most dominant is terminated a rapidly as their growth (myspace is an example and facebook will be another) but Google has successfully diversified into so many important areas of the internet that they are very likely to be around for a long time to come. And if you want to be serious about SEO and Web Marketing you need to stay on the right side of Google.
Google from its inception fully bought into many of the internet ethics that had become established in the 1990s and now, concepts like freedom of expression without censorship and of a sharing community are now to a large extent policed by Google. Use unethical or underhand tactics to promote your site via search and Google will drop you like a stone. Publish high quality content that is genuinely relevant to the web community and Google will reward you with high ranking.
So staying on Google’s side is important. A Black Hat SEO career will be short lived.
It’s the same for Adsense. Fall foul of Google’s ad policies and your account will be cancelled. Always remember that Google is a business and if you use Adsense ads on your sight then you are in business too. You need to behave in a business like fashion. Google’s policies are Google’s. Infringe them and suffer the consequences. If your adsense account is cancelled, 99% of the time you know exactly why. The forums are full of complaints from “innocent” victims of Google’s adsense policy. It’s business. If Google don’t want to deal with your they don’t have to. But they don’t canel compliant accounts. That would not make good business sense.
I recently received a warning from Google. I was displaying their ads on a sight that promotes lingerie. As you would expect, there are images on the sight of women in underwear. The target audience is mature females and it was no more lewd than the Victoria’s Secret Catalogue. Google decided that it was in breach of policy quoting “content containing lewd or provocative poses, or close-ups of breasts, butts, or crotches” as the breach. In my judgement, there was no breach and I was concerned about who might have made this judgement. A 20 year old male in India might have an entirely different view of what is lewd compared to a 45 year old female in France for example. But I was reminded by the experience that it is not my judgment that counts – they are not my ads. They are Google’s. Don’t complain. Comply.
The SEO Lesson
Always remember that Google is a business and it’s best interests are served by maintaining the principles it has worked to develop and support since it’s inception. The only way to rank highly within a Google search is to publish high quality content with relevant quality back links. Obey the rules for Adsense and adopt only White Hat SEO strategies.
They say keep your friend close and your enemies closer. Forget it. Just stay friends with Google.
