Enterprise SEO Blog

We're not talking about porn or gaming or pharma, although all of these grey market sites also have their own issues. But most porn sites actually hold rank. Ditto gaming sites. These are NOT what I'm discussing.

In 2005, we had a client working from the UK, whose business was id cards. Not phony drivers licenses or fraudulent documentation, but cards that appeared to be official without breaking any laws. The main use was by students to buy booze. In fact, one of the ads on the site featured a band whose lead singer used their product to buy beer when touring the US.

But we discovered that this website (a hugely popular one among young people) was flagged by the authorities in Britain and by Homeland Security in the US for obvious reasons. Google would not permit this site to rank, even though the site was compliantly implemented, and highly relevant - clearly the most relevant document. The owner created several other sites, and each in turn got kicked out of the search as it rose through the ranks for searches for "fake id."

We don't pass judgment on our clients, and this was a company in trouble, so we tried to help. And this client understood his predicament and was making an effort to salvage his livelihood. But after several months of effort and several new websites later, it became obvious that the powers that be were NOT happy with this business model.

That same year we also discovered a chemical products manufacturer that could not rank for certain generic product terms, among them "nitrate fertilizers." You'll notice that if you try to find a place to buy this product, it is not easy using Google. That's because nitrate fertilizers can be used to make explosives - the Oklahoma bomber used a fertilizer bomb. Again Homeland Security (and other international government agencies) intervened for good reason.

Far less dramatic, are some current business models that will get you banned. For example, if your business model encourages, suggests, or relies upon the theft of intellectual property - like music or movies. Duh. But if your site simply points to copyrighted material, that is enough to get you kicked out of the natural search, Adwords, and AdSense.

Yikes!

Second that, Jabaloni. There's nothing else to say, Bro. Going home and lighting candles.