Black Hat Techniques to Avoid

Posted on November 30th, 2011. Written by Angie.

Black hat SEO (search engine optimization) is a technique that is used to get higher rankings in an unethical manner. By using black hat SEO, one is breaking the rules and regulations of the search engine. Short term, using black hat SEO techniques can rank you highly. But if you are found of using black hat SEO, your site can be penalized. In the long run, it is best to avoid black hat all together. While it may be tempting, your site could suffer from using any one of these techniques listed below. There are many black hat techniques that people use. Here are just some of the techniques to look out for.

Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing happens when you over use your keywords in your content. Your page is basically loaded with your keywords. You could be banned all together from search engines if you decided to use this tactic. Keyword stuffing is considered to be against the “netiquette”.

Cloaking

Cloaking is used when the search engine spider sees different content than the visitor would see. This is a way to deceive the search engines, so you page is then approved. If the search engine finds out you used cloaking, your site will be pulled and will not be listed again.

Paid Links

It is frowned upon to have paid links on your site. Google is improving the way it detects these links, and you could be reported. You may have a paid links penalty added to your account. It is best to add links organically, as it will be better for your site in the long run.

Deceptive Headlines

Don’t fall short when thinking of a title for your content. Never employ the use of a deceptive headline or title. Many will use this technique to get more traffic to the site. If you have to do this, you are only going to cheat yourself as your content will not get read. Visitors will be fast to catch on, and there may not be anything stopping them from reporting you to the search engine.

In conclusion, it is best not to use black hat SEO techniques. They can help you short term, which can be exciting to learn you ranked so high in a short time period. But the fact of the matter is, you are only hurting yourself if you employ these techniques. And remember that if you were ranked high, and then the search engine found you to be using these unethical techniques, and your site is still listed, you will have an even harder time climbing back to the top.
When it comes to SEO, you must remember one simple thing. Slow and steady wins the race. You will not get far by breaking the rules, as you will eventually get caught. Do it right the first time, and your success rate will be much higher.

Angie

1 Responses »

1. 

   deannatroupe

   December 11, 2011 • 4:04 pm

   When you say paid links, do you mean links that people have paid to put on your site or links that you have purchased? How does Google know if you have bought advertising?