When it comes to online marketing and SEO, there are generally two ways to approach things – White Hat and Black Hat SEO.
Using search engines for marketing comes with rules and guidelines set by the search engines themselves. In short, those who follow these guidelines fall under the “White Hat SEO” category, and those who don’t are said to follow “Black Hat SEO”.
Going against search engine guidelines can result in penalties and being removed completely.
The purpose of search engine algorithms is that they provide those searching with the best results possible for their query. Those using “Black Hat” techniques in SEO marketing are essentially stopping those who follow search engine guidelines from ranking as high on SERPS (the page you see after entering a query into Google, Yahoo, or any other search engine).
So, what exactly are the techniques used in “Black Hat SEO”?
There are many different techniques used by marketers using Black Hat SEO, all against Google’s guidelines.
Here’s some of the most common.
Keyword Stuffing
Black Hat SEOs will often attempt to manipulate a site’s rankings by including the same keyword multiple times on one page, to the point of the content often making no sense when read. They’re smart in how they situate these though, making sure that it sits in paragraphs outside of the main content and therefore is less noticeable.
For example, in this case the keyword is “yellow rubber ducky”.
“Get a yellow rubber ducky for your children. A yellow rubber ducky is a charming toy, so buy a yellow rubber ducky today. With a yellow rubber ducky , you can have tons of yellow rubber ducky fun. It’s easy to make bath time great with a yellow rubber ducky , and a yellow rubber ducky from our company guarantees yellow rubber ducky enjoyment.”
You see, the keyword is used 8 times in a small 61-word paragraph, but it makes no sense when reading it? That’s because it’s not written with the purpose of being easy to read, but to trick Google and their search engine users.
The problem for those using this method however, is that Google’s bots are only getting smarter and can now tell when content has been manipulated therefore, content that’s been written with the intent to be read by those following search engine guidelines and likely to perform better.
Paid Links
The significance of backlinks in an SEO strategy cannot be underestimated. Google deems a site to be more trustworthy and authoritative if it has more backlinks (external sites that connect to yours).
A number of sites will charge SEO marketers money for placing content and links on their site, so some marketers choose to pay for these to increase their number of backlinks and score higher.
Google frowns upon this, however, and sets this out in their guidelines. Anyone found to be using methods against Google’s guidelines can be issued with penalties, be wiped from search engines or see their metrics completely
Hidden Text
For the sole purpose of building the number of backlinks, content is often created and published with hidden text and keywords.
This content doesn’t include anything valuable to readers and is often positioned strategically so that readers don’t notice it. For example, positioned off screen, behind an image, or in the same font colour as the background.
Similarly, some marketers will post repeat or low-quality content filled with ‘invisible’ text, to boost their backlinks. For example, creating a multitude of the same location page with the same content, and the only thing changing is the place name so it generates a larger amount of keywords.
This allows a site to rank for keywords that are seemingly invisible. This can drive traffic to a site via irrelevant keywords which will boost their traffic.
Why should we avoid “Black Hat SEO”?
Black Hat SEO is unethical and risky business practice. As we’ve just covered, search engines like Google have strict guidelines. The technology in place now compared to 10 years ago is unbelievable, and Google invests heavily into making the online marketing world a fair place for all.
With the latest technology, search engines are now able to look specifically for Black Hat techniques being used whilst indexing a page. Pages that show evidence of using these techniques can be instantly being downgraded or delisted with the possibility of their domain being blacklisted, putting a stop to your whole website being displayed in the SERPs. Inevitably, you’d then lose views and the ability to send organic traffic to your website.
Search engines change and update their algorithms regularly to ensure these techniques are no longer effective. Notable past Google updates have included “Florida” which located and penalised websites for keyword stuffing and “Penguin” which penalised linking techniques.
If you’re looking for ways to increase your website’s traffic by using ethical SEO techniques, get in touch today!
