Unethical Search Engine Optimization Techniques to Avoid

Black hat search engine optimization methods boost a website’s search engine ranking by breaking the rules of the search engines. Some website owners use black hat SEO to quickly bring in more website traffic. Sometimes it results in a higher page rank far faster than if more ethical techniques were used. However, using black hat SEO also increases the risk that your website will eventually be banned from search engines.

 

Black Hat SEO Techniques

Keyword stuffing is an example of a black hat SEO technique. When keyword stuffing, you create largely nonsensical web copy that is full of common search terms. The content doesn’t offer any real information. It is also not the kind of content that search engines seek for their highest-ranked pages. Sometimes, the keyword stuffing is so blatant that a site has pages of keyword lists and no other text.

Some black hat SEO methods aren’t immediately visible to a casual viewer. Keywords may be hidden in the white spaces of the page. This will make keywords visible to search engines. These search engines will then spider the pages, and present them in search engine results for those keywords.

The problem is that the hidden keywords may have nothing to do with the page. This will increase website traffic. But it presents an extremely poor user experience for people searching for the hidden keywords.

 

The Consequences of Black Hat SEO

When a search engine catches a website engaged in black hat SEO techniques, that search engine will likely ban the site from its index. That makes the website inaccessible by the sites most likely to direct traffic to the sites. Without a search engine rank, traffic to the website will drop off sharply, if not end completely.

 

White Hat SEO

Search engines recommend white hat SEO methods. This is because white hat SEO creates a better experience for users. White hat SEO includes natural keyword placement, website security, and large, interlinked websites. It also involves plenty of informational content.

Search engines seek to stay in business by providing a good searching experience to its users. So it’s important that they can bring up sites that will inform searchers about exactly what they were looking for. There are plenty of free SEO tools that can help website owners stay on the white hat side of the SEO game.

Some SEO firms offer black hat Search Engine Optimization services as a website optimization tool, promising a quick increase in website traffic. When hiring a SEO services company, it’s important to make sure that the website optimization methods used will be white hat SEO techniques. This will give the site a long-term increase in website traffic instead of a quick rise and a quicker crash and burn.