Negative Off-Page SEO Google Ranking Factors

There are not many things you can do about these rules, however, is good to keep them in mind and try to overcome them or work them around. Green rows are confirmed by Google patent. Rows maked with are bad factors with a quite negative influence on your ranking.

	Negative Off-Page Factor	Brief Description
	Traffic Buying	Have you paid a company for web traffic? It is probably low quality traffic, with a zero conversion rate. Some providers of traffic for traffic's sake may be considered "bad neighborhoods". Can Google discount your traffic (for true popularity), because they know it's mostly phony? Have you read about Traffic Power?
	Temporal Link Analysis	In a nut shell, old links are valued, new links are not. This is intended to thwart rapid incoming link accumulation, accomplished through the tactic of link buying. Just one of the sandbox factors.
	Change of Meanings	Query meaning changes over time, due to current events.
	Zero links to you	You MUST have at least 1 (one) incoming link (backlink) from some website somewhere, that Google is aware of, to REMAIN in the index.
	Link-buying (Very good IF you don't get caught.)	Google patent - Google hates link-buying, because it corrupts their PR model in the worst way possible. 1. Does your page have links it really doesn't merit? 2. Did you get tons of links in a short time period? 3. Do you have links from high-PR, unrelated sites?
	Prior Site Ranking	Google patent - High = Good.
	Cloaking	Google promises to Ban! (Presenting one webpage to the search engine spider, and another webpage to everybody else.)
??	Links from bad neighborhoods, affiliates	Google says that incoming links from bad sites can't hurt you, because you can't control them. Ideally, this would be true. However, some speculate otherwise, esp., when other associated factors are thrown into the mix, such as web rings.
	Penalties - resulting from Domain Hijacking (work with Google to fix)	Should result in IMPRISONMENT, forthwith! Grand Theft, mandatory minimum sentence. The criminal COPYS your entire website, and HOSTS it elsewhere, with . . . a few changes.
	Penalty - Google TOS violation	WMG is the worst offender - gobbles up tons of Google server time by nervous webmasters. Google even mentions them by name. I think that Google will spank you when you cross the threshold, of say, 100 queries per day for the same term, from the same IP. Google can block your IP. Get a Google API.
??	Server Reliability - S/B >99.9%	What is your uptime? Ever notice a daily time when your server is unavailable, like about 1:30 AM? How diligent must Googlebot be? This is the worst reason to get dropped - you just aren't there! Repeated ISP maintenance interruptions can cause delisting.
	Rank Manipulation by Competitor Attack (1. Content theft causing you to get a duplicate content penalty, even though your content is the original - Google has problems tracking original authorship.) Latest - Site-Wide Link Attack and 302 Redirect Attack and Hijacker Attack	Impossible by Google definition (except for a few nasty tricks, like making your competition appear to be link spammers). Ideally, there SHOULD be nothing that your competition can do to directly hurt your rankings. However, an astute observer noticed that Google changed their website to read : Old verbiage = "There is nothing a competitor can do to harm your ranking ..." New verbiage = "There is ALMOST nothing a competitor can do ..." An obvious concession that Google thinks that at least some dirty tricks work! Of course, there will always be new ones!
	Bouncing Ball Algorithm	At least 2, and often 3 identifiable Google Search Algos are currently in use, alternating pseudo-randomly through the data centers. GOOD LUCK NOW on trying to figure things out! Moreover, some the above factors are being "tweaked" daily. Not only are the "weights" of the factors changed, but the formula itself changes. Change is the only constant. An algo change can boost or demote your site. Thus your position is never secure, unless of course, you are huge (PR=7 or greater). If you simply cannot achieve top position, your only alternative to first page SERP exposure may be Google AdWords (you pay per click and get exposure).