This basically relates to certain practices which you need to actually steer clear of. When you are looking into ways in which your site should get a good, solid ranking- the one thing that matters is how are you getting work done on it. Black hat SEO may be sounding like a sure shot way in which you can get a solid ranking.
But here’s the thing- it stands for something completely opposite from that. When you want to improve your Google rankings and want to gain visibility when it comes to search- avoid the techniques of Black hat SEO.
Now you might be wondering if this is actually not something you should be doing, then why are we talking about it even?
Well, you need to know the details of why something is not right. In this article I want to talk about all that there is relating to Black hat SEO. And why people tend to avoid it and its techniques.
So let’s begin:
What is Black Hat SEO?
Let’s start off with the most basic. What is meant by this kind of SEO. As you already know, SEO relates to all that you need to know when we are looking into ways in which our content can get a solid association to search engines.
Your content, site and the services and products you are trying to sell online will fall completely flat if it is not being searched. This is how important it is to sync with search engines. And this is where SEO comes in, looking at user intent and its application.
In stands for ‘search engine optimization’. So this basically relates to how it is a means to give your site and blog a major boost.
But here is where we draw the line- not all techniques are worthy of it. White hat SEO is what search engines are approving themselves. You cannot go wrong here. It is what Google is giving a nudge to. So when you are adapting it, you are essentially following what Google and other leading search engines want and looking for.
Why is Black Hat SEO ‘Bad’?
So this then brings us to the question as to what make Black hat SEO so troublesome? It is basically a set of techniques which are going ‘against’ the guidelines of leading search engines.
Where white stands for getting the nod of approval, black means you need to completely stay away.
It is practices which you try to adapt to get a boost to the website’s search rankings. But it is not advised. How you would say?
Well, for starters, these techniques are completely bogus as they are completely ignoring the searcher’s intent.
Now, before moving forward let me give you a quick overview on what does search intent mean:
How It Ignores Search Intent
If you are looking into meeting the goals and guidelines of SEO, you need to know what search intent or user intent means.
It is basically relating to what is the reason why someone is online and what are they looking for? It is basically the reason as to why someone is actually conducting a specific search.
You are online because you want to look for something. Usually it means an answer to a question or query. Google has been spending years of hard work in making its algorithm better in defining what is the search intent.
And that means you need to identify what a user’s search intent is and create content in that way. Black hat SEO is actually completely ignoring this specific information.
This is why it is considered as a major element of why this method should be sidelined. And not taken into serious consideration.
Cheating the System
One of the major aspects of why Black hat SEO is not worthy is that it is actually ignoring the valid practices in order to gain a strong ranking and following. These practices can also be considered as a way to cheat the system. The techniques emphasize ways in which they will be adapting practices which are not ethical neither authentic means.
It is what we call a way of actually exploiting the major set guidelines from search engines. However this is how it is differing from White hat SEO. As that is making use of search engine’s own suggested guidelines, providing complete and major results.
Why some people consider using black over white is that they assume when they are adapting the techniques and suggestions from the former, they will be able to get a faster visibility result. As they will be adapting gaming search engine algorithms.
But the problem is, these will be actually hurting your long-term SEO. You will be facing a rush of major issues which will impact the results.
Risks of Black Hat SEO
Now I want to look into some of the major ways in which this kind of SEO is actually going to hurt your site in major ways. Let’s look into how it happens:
- Leads to major low rankings. It will be usually something which you will start to notice after a while.
- A site will also likely to disappear from the search results if you continue your practice of adapting these false techniques in your SEO practices.
- In some cases, search engines are also likely to penalize such sites which are continuously making use of techniques which the search engines have already suggested as completely restricted.
- Search engines also hold the authority to ban the sites which are making use of strategies which are banned. It is very dangerous for your site to make use of these tactics. Not only does it put your site in jeopardy but it will also be putting your complete business jeopardy. So why take such a risk? It will be causing you to suffer in endless ways.
- One of the major things why it is not worth the risk is that you will be only getting short-term results. This means that its usage will be coming with certain loopholes. You cannot overlook these. When Google fixes the loophole, it will essentially mean that how you tried to create strategies from that loophole. When it is fixed, you will essentially lose the results from such strategies and techniques.
- Overall, when adapting Black hat SEO, you are creating a very misleading experience for your users. Your audience will be getting rather a poor intake. As it will be making your brand look spammy. It is also something which will make your content and site look completely untrustworthy.
So here’s looking into some of the most popular Black hat SEO techniques which many sites are making use, only on the basis of how they can get quick results which are not long-lasting and cause severe problems too in the long-term.
The Most Popular Black Hat SEO Techniques
So when it comes to making use of some of the leading Black hat SEO techniques which can cause you a lot of trouble in the long run, you should be avoiding them to ensure search engines do not blacklist you and penalize your site in the process. These include:
- Publishing low-quality content is one way in which some marketers think they will be able to go ahead. While search engines don’t prefer low- quality and cheap content, choose the wise path and bring quality work to make it search worthy on the internet.
- Publishing content which is based on search intent is the wise move. You want to create content which search engines will be ranking, depending on what users are searching for online.
- Ensure that you are not making use of the tactic ‘keyword stuffing‘. This is when you are trying to create content with stuffing a keyword way too many times. It is in hopes that the search engine will be using the same to get a ranking for that specific term.
- Also duplicate content is when you try to publish the very same content on several different pages. This is also a tactic which is going against the guidelines from search engines.
- It is best to apply keyword optimization as it will ensure your content is high quality.
- Also when it comes to backlinks, make sure you are getting authentic ones instead of trying to buy high-quality backlinks. This is how some marketers try to pay various websites in order to get them to link to their own sites. You need to rely on the organic way of getting the nod, instead of needing to buy them.
Conclusion
This article is a complete overview on understanding the dynamics of Black hat SEO. It is a popular means which some marketers make use of to gain short-term goals. But this is something which is banned by search engines and it is completely harmful when it comes to how it will impact your business and your site in the long-term.
Ensure that you are aware of how it harms your business in order to keep your site healthy and gain viewers in a healthy manner.