Someone asked me the other day what the difference between a Google penalty and a ban was…
If you want to play ball with Google, you’re going to have to play by their rules (albeit, ever-changing). After all, it’s their game.
Think about it like a football game. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never seen a football game without penalties. Whether it’s offensive or defensive holding, pass interference, or delay of game—a penalty can cost a team 5-15 yards. I have, however, seen many football games without anyone actually being banned from the game. You have to do something ‘really bad’ to get kicked out of a football game.
Well, the same goes for Google.
A penalty causes your pages to drop in rankings. Your site is still in Google’s search index. This is reserved for less serious types of spamming like keyword stuffing, automated queries, anchor text repetition, dubious linking, etc.
A ban results in complete and total removal of your entire site from Google’s search index, and is generally reserved for only major spam infractions such as using bots to spam guest books for the purposes of acquiring inbound links or other shenanigans.
Just like any game, you’re a better player if you know the rules. Google continually updates their Webmaster Guidelines online. Check them out before you play!
