What should one do to avoid a Google penalty?

The last thing many people who rely on organic traffic from Google want to hear is that Google is releasing a new algorithm update. Algorithms tend to be traffic destroyers that subsequently cause many businesses to lose to competitors. However, they also have the potential of increasing a website's rankings, including competitors'. The best you can do is prepare for the implementation of the algorithm by engaging in best SEO practices.

Here are some quick ways to avoid getting a penalty once a new algorithm shows up, as well as improve your overall SEO.

Avoid Link Farms

Link farms exist to help increase rankings by requiring the exchange of links between other link forms and unrelated websites. In the early days of SEO this technique worked effectively enough, but now Google is likely to punish your website if it's engaging in mass linking.

Don't Use Hidden Text

Hidden text consists of keywords that are intended to be invisible to the site viewer while remaining visible to Google. It can include hidden links, cloaking, and sneaky redirects as well. Google now penalizes websites that use hidden text, making it useless today.

Only Link to Reputable Websites

If you want other websites to positively influence your rankings, you should only link to other websites with a good page rank. Bad websites can quickly pull your website down with them.

Never Steal Images or Text from Other Domains

One common black hat SEO practice is stealing images or text from other websites to help boost rankings with less effort. However, Google doesn't appreciate this strategy, and will punish websites using duplicate or stolen content.

Avoid "Poison" Words

Using words such as "link" in hypertext when linking to a website, this word can serve as a "poison" word that renders the link obsolete.

These are simply some of the many effective ways to keep your website safe from Google's algorithm updates while improving your overall SEO.