Black Hat SEO

Unethical Search Engine Optimization Techniques

© Lizz Shepherd

Nov 3, 2008
Beware the Black Hat, heltje
To get fast page rank and to increase website traffic, unethical website optimization attempts to fool search engines into a higher placement than the site deserves.

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Black hat SEO methods are ones that boost a website in search engine results by using methods that break the rules of the search engines. This is done by some website owners to quickly bring in more website traffic. Sometimes it results in a higher page rank far faster than if more ethical techniques were used.

Black Hat SEO Techniques

Keyword stuffing for website optimization is considered by many to be a black hat SEO technique. This is creating Web copy that is full of little more than keywords people will search for. The content doesn’t offer any real information and isn’t 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 of website optimization aren’t visible by a casual viewer of the website. Keywords may be hidden in the white spaces of the page. This will make keywords visible to search engines that will spider the pages and present them in search engine results for those keywords.

The problem is that the keywords that were hidden 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 Google, Yahoo or any other search engine catches a website engaged in black hat SEO techniques, that search engine will likely ban the site from being indexed. That makes the website inaccessible by the sites most likely to direct traffic to the sites. Without being included in search engine results, traffic to the website will drop off sharply if not end completely.

White Hat SEO

White hat SEO methods are ones that search engines recommend to create a better user experience. This includes natural keyword placement, large, interlinked websites and plenty of informational content.

Search engines seek to stay in business by providing a good searching experience that brings 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 SEO 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.


The copyright of the article Black Hat SEO in Online Publishing is owned by Lizz Shepherd. Permission to republish Black Hat SEO in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.


Beware the Black Hat, heltje
       


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