Everyone is harping about the advantages of using user generated content to increase search engine ranking. But what they failed to consider is that your site is actually welcoming virtually any “user” who chanced upon your site. So one moment you may be happily uploading content to your website and the next moment, you will discover that you had been banned by Google.

How is this possible? Well, you will just be surprised that your site is suddenly the host of thousands of parasites that are advertising anything from travel deals to pharmaceutical products. Even large website such as the Guardian has not been spared although these sites still rank high in search engines. But it would be a mistake on your part to think that Google will be wise enough to figure out what is a “spam” website from a legitimate website overrun by spam. This is not the case though so a site owner should take every precaution necessary to make sure that user generated content will not do more harm than good to the SEO of a website.

Overall though, it would simply not be right to disallow user generated content altogether. Web 2.0 is an incredibly good development in the internet because it enables internet users to build a community where they can interact and share their opinions with like-minded individuals. It is up to the site owner to make sure that things will not get too far because the site can easily become overrun with spam.