Minus the search engines, Internet is meaningless. How many websites do you visit using the major search? Compare it with the number of websites by actually typing their URLs. Their importance cannot be overemphasized. This is why optimizers are wowing internet search engines to attain top search engine results.

Though there are a good number of SEO techniques, some optimizers use illegal methods, known as black SEO techniques, to climb the SEO ladder. But search engines are equipped with means to detect violations. Once detected, the search engine would bad-mark the website. Penalized websites will not show on the search results anymore. As a result, page traffic will decrease drastically, and hence will its business.

Websites can be penalized for several reasons. The most common reasons are the following:

1. Too little text on the website
2. Too many keywords (keyword stuffing)
3. Same article sent to several article directories without any change
4. Too many inbound links to the website from the exact same keyword from promotion articles
5. Duplicate content in articles of the website
6. Linking many websites together from the same IP, having the same types of keywords

It is in the best interest of the site owner to understand search engine optimization penalties even before launching the website so that their websites are safe from the strict scrutiny of the search engines.