SEO is both an art and a science. They are technical ways of doing it and there are creative ways as well. The best kind of SEO is done with an even mix of both. But there are some SEO techniques which are downright against the prevalent SEO protocols of major search engines like Google, Bing and others. If you do these, you are going to get downranked and maybe even banned pretty fast. As an ethical SEO professional, you need to know about these black hat SEO techniques to ensure you are not committing any of SEO sins.
10 Black Hat SEO Tricks Which Spell Disaster
Overdoing Keywords
Back in the days when SEO was still a toddler, there was a lot of good reason to do keyword stuffing in your content. However, that time has long gone and doing it now is similar to setting your website on pixel fire. No one in their right mind will do keyword stuffing in their content because Google is pretty strict on this one and is very likely to come down hard on offenders.
Spun Content
The time when AI can successfully duplicate human-made content is fast approaching, but it hasn’t arrived yet. And until that time Google’s AI is pretty keen-eyed on spotting spun content. Despite the slew of article spinners out there, using spun content is the equivalent of suicide. It is indeed much more sensible and profitable to just get fresh content written.
Using Clickbait
Clickbait has become a subject of ridicule and satire across the internet for a very good reason. The obviously desperate need to oversell something comes off a something very inauthentic and Google’s spiders are smart enough to spot that. So, writing page titles similar to those used to sell height gain or even dubious weight loss pills is not a good idea.
Domain Squatting
Squatting is exactly what it sounds like. It is occupying on a space which you have no right to. Domain squatting is the digital equivalent of a homeless person occupying a vacant residential structure. The only difference is that the homeless person is probably just getting out of the cold. A black hat Domain Squatting is done intentionally. So, if typing Gooogle.com redirects to your site, be ready to get a ban.
Paid Links
In 2019, the laws surrounding paid promotions are still somewhat murky. However, Google has a pretty clear policy on that. It simply says paid links are not allowed and downranks websites which have them. So, having paid links without offering a fair and open disclosure for that specific paid promotion is a bad idea. If you do that, you are very likely to suffer a downranking.
Spamming
Gone are the days when cluster bombing a target with any kind of advertising material was vaguely admissible. Nowadays, you can only offer your products to online users if they really search for it. There are some ways still of spamming online users but they are also not recommended. The simple fact of the matter is that you can get more conversion through legit advertising than spamming. Also, spamming comments and on your social media pages is really frowned upon.
Page Swapping
Page swap explains the problem Google has with this black hat trick through its name. Picture having a high-ranking Google page and then swapping it with another page which has not been ranked in the same way. The page is not likely to have the high-quality that ranked the first page highly. Naturally, when Google finds out, the website is going to earn a penalty.
Hidden Texts and Links
Having hidden text on your webpage is a bit of late 2000s even when it comes black hat SEO. However, it is still practised sometimes. Google’s spiders have evolved far beyond them even needing to stop to consider this black hat trick. They will simply bump your website down a few notches for doing that. Repeat the mistake a few more times and you can earn yourself a nice little ban.
Cloaking
In contrast with the black hat SEO trick we mentioned before, cloaking is a rather ingenious way to trick search engines into listing websites. These sites don’t actually contain any data but might be used to perform a number of hacking actions. That is why as soon as one of these is found, Google eliminates the listing entirely.
Hacking
So, we finally get to the big H of the cyberworld. No doubt, you know that the internet is rife with cybercriminals and it takes some effort to keep users from falling into traps. So, Google is pretty fast on spotting and eliminating hacked websites. If you are a business portal, this is a quick way to lose your credibility. That is why you need to secure your websites against hackers.
Read Also: Facebook Ads with Whastapp-Enabled Chats: How to Cross-Platform Your Facebook Campaigns
So, How Should I Do My Website SEO?
The 10 black hat SEO techniques we have mentioned here are just the tip of the iceberg. You should know about this type of ill-recommended SEO but you should know proper white-hat SEO first. If you are not a field expert, it is best to find a reliable SEO agency to get the job done for you. 6ixwebsoft is the perfect example of such a company. Look through our SEO packages to know what you should expect from a decent SEO company!
Really informative, thanks for sharing this!