Penalties

[irahat]

i read somewhere that you can incur penalties. i know you can for blackhat stuff but are there any seemingly innocent things that can cause a site to rank poorly?? like invalid code or over-seo ing?
what about paying for links??? i would never use blackhat methods and i know to check a site with lynx but are there other things to watch for??
what about strict vs transitional?? html 4 vs 5 etc.... use of javascript?
also, is linking with anchor text now over rated??? it seems to be all over - surely google must know people are doing this on purpose??
sorry for all the questions!!
any input much appreciated!!
i have to say i learned more on this forum in ten minutes than i did in reading SEO for dummies cover to cover... keep up the good work!!

[rsalan]

Poor ranks are often just the case of poor links.

You can get filtered out for most anything "shady" hidden text or hidden links, bad duplication of content but usually on a massive order, paid links and overuse of advertising links (same as paid link but no $$ changed hands - recip, 4-way, cross-linking, etc.)

Those are the usual suspects.

Google knowledge is limited to pattern detection - it need "enough of a pattern" to view before it can do anything.

A bit like pouring a teaspoon of fresh water in seawater... you can't see any different and you can taste any difference, nor can you feel any difference.

But by adding more, and more, and more fresh water to seawater... you can taste the difference and buoyancy drops with fresh water and you can feel yourself sink more and see that you don't float as much... the pattern becomes increasingly recognizable the more you add.

[mshah]

Anything you do on your website is the most dangerous thing.

From keyword stuffing to putting links of others.

It is because you have the full control on your website, so any blackhat stuff on your website is not taken for granted by Google.

Anything done OFF your website, is still very safe.