Google’s Webmaster Guidelines
are fundamental to achieving
sustainable SEO results using
techniques that are in line with
Google’s expectations.
If you don’t follow their guidelines, you can expect to
experience either an algorithmic devaluation or an outright
manual penalty.
In the most severe cases, you can expect to be banned from
Google SERPs entirely.
Understanding the guidelines in full is the only way to avoid
potential missteps and future harm to your site. Of course,
there’s always more than one way to interpret their guidelines.
Thankfully, Google reps such as John Mueller and Gary
Illyes are available on Twitter for most questions about these
guidelines.