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You may or may not be aware of Black Hat SEO. And, yes. There is something called White Hat SEO. Who knew SEO was colorful? Black Hat SEO is an unethical way to receive higher search engine rankings and has the following characteristics:
- Ignores and breaks search engine rules and regulations followed by most internet users.
- Presents information in an unethical manner to search engine users and spiders.
- Internet users have a poor experience thanks to Black Hat SEO optimization.
It’s important to create an ethical and overall good user experience for visitors to your website. If you dabble in Black Hat SEO tactics, search engines will penalize you. Instead of using a short-term process like Black Hat SEO, use techniques that will help you in the long-run. It doesn’t make sense to gain a high ranking now, only to be knocked down later because of unethical web practices.
Black Hat SEO Techniques to Avoid
1. Keyword stuffing blog posts and articles. It’s important to use keywords and phrases that will help your website gain rankings; however, over-stuffing your website, blog posts and articles with keywords is frowned up.
2. Invisible text only search engine spiders can see. This is frowned upon as well. In actuality, it takes time to put keywords and phrases in white text on a white background. Eventually, search engines will ‘see’ what you’re doing and you’ll be penalized for it.
3. Using a doorway page. Another way some websites gain rankings is to have a ‘fake page’ that’s only visible to search engines.
FYI: White Hat SEO uses ethical techniques such as a reasonable amount of keywords and phrases, keyword analysis and other analytics, linking, backlinking, etc.
Using Black Hat SEO can backfire on you if you’re trying to establish yourself as an ‘expert’ in your business. If you’re trying to scheme and strategize search engines, who’s to say you won’t do this to your customers? Many people are becoming very conscious (aware) of how and where they spend their money. If you want to gain trust, avoid Black Hat SEO. You’ll only ‘drive’ clients and customers to your competitors. They’ll laugh all the way to the bank while you work on repairing your internet reputation. It’s something to think about.
Related articles
- You’re Not an SEO Unless You Read This Post (searchengineguide.com)
- 5 Things You May Be Doing That Could Hurt Your Rankings (morevisibility.com)
