What Exactly is Black-Hat SEO ?

You have no doubt heard of black-hat SEO, you know it is frowned upon and you most likely have no intention of using it. But do you actually understand what this term refers to? Or to put it this way, can you easily and quickly spot the evidence of black-hat SEO in a web marketing strategy?

Research seems to suggest that while general awareness of black-hat SEO as a concept is indeed widespread, the fundamentals of it remain something of a mystery to most.

 

With this in mind, what follows is a short overview of some of the most common black-hat SEO examples:

Keyword Stuffing

What is keyword stuffing? As far as Google and the major search engines are concerned, the use of keywords to manipulate the SERP rankings to any degree whatsoever. Therefore, all manners of keyword research and SEO-friendly website content would technically qualify as black-hat. The reason is that you were not attempting to influence the SERP rankings, you would not pay attention to your use of keywords. Nevertheless, there is a big difference between using a few keywords in your content and cramming literally dozens into your copy at the expense of its overall quality. Therefore, it is only the latter of the two that is really considered black-hat and dangerous.

‘Strategic’ Redirects

We use the word ‘strategic’, but a more appropriate word would be ‘sneaky’. This is a technique similar to cloaking, though in this case the user is immediately diverted to a different page when clicking the link. The page has been engineered to curry favour with Google and climb the rankings, though when accessed by an Internet user redirects them elsewhere. All of the major search engines condemn such sneaky redirects and spare no expense to identify and punish the perpetrators.

Cloaking

Cloaking is a technique whereby the search engine spider is shown a piece of content, though the user is shown something completely different. It is a common marketing process used to fool the major search engines into thinking the website in question contains content they never really present to the actual web user. Spam websites often use this technique, in order to pull in traffic and avoid being punished for publishing spam content The only problem is that in this day and age, actually getting away with cloaking is borderline impossible.

Paid Links

Google rewards high-quality backlinks as they are both indicators of quality and difficult to establish. That is, unless you just buy your way into backlinks. The point of backlinks is that they are provided in cases where websites of high quality deem the source in question to be worthy. If you buy backlinks, you cannot say you have earned them - you may not even deserve them. Therefore, even if you think you are buying quality links of value, you are still indulging in the dark side of search engine optimisation and could land in a world of trouble.

Substandard Content

If you try to produce quality content and come out with substandard, that is fine…kind of. By contrast, attempting to pack a website with filler content of zero value simply for SEO purposes is a big no-no Most of Google’s recent algorithm updates have been geared towards assessing the quality of website copy, not simply the quantity thereof. While it is still relatively easy to get away with substandard copy to a degree, it is nonetheless getting harder all the time.

Five Ways to Wreck Your SERP Score with Google

It seems the one constant in the whole digital marketing landscape over recent years has been the importance of SEO. Or more specifically, achieving solid SERP performance. And as far as the immediate outlook is concerned at least, it doesn’t look as if things are about to change anytime soon.

That said, the one thing that has changed beyond recognition is the list of errors and oversights that can get you in trouble. Reaching the top spot with Google has never been more difficult – doing yourself a disservice has never been simpler. Which is exactly what a surprising number of online businesses are doing right now.

To just look at things from a slightly alternative perspective, here’s a rundown of five guaranteed ways to wreck your SERP score with Google:

1. Anything black hat

First up, there’s really no sense in listing the various examples of black hat SEO techniques you should be avoiding. The reason being that all black hat SEO should be avoided at all costs. Even if it’s the kind of thing you’d once get away with, or genuinely believe you’ve hidden sufficiently from view. These days, there are no short cuts to positive SEO whatsoever – trying to find them will only ever land you in hot water.

2. Duplicate content

As time goes by, the rules in terms of duplicate content are also becoming more and more severe. Bad enough when there’s duplicate content within the same site, even worse when the same content appears in different locations. Whatever your excuse, Google sees duplicate content as nothing more than lazy and of poor quality for web users. Even if you don’t agree, you still need to abide by the rules.

3. Too much guest blogging

You know how guest blogging can be a great way of an invaluable and abundant backlink? Well, as far as Google is concerned, too much of a good thing is bad. Just to clarify, guest blogging should in no way be considered black hat or inadvisable. It can actually be enormously beneficial and positive. Nevertheless, any kind of duplicate, poor-quality or spun content used for guest blogging is exactly the kind of thing that could reflect bad on you. Both in terms of your reputation and your SERP score.

4. Site performance issues

The problem with this particular consideration is that it didn’t use to be a consideration at all. At one time, you could get away with a website that wasn’t particularly speedy, reliable or easy to navigate. These days, all these things and everything else to do with performance are taken into account and considered accordingly. Which in turn means that even if your site’s content is no less than outstanding, it could be rendered redundant if site performance isn’t up to scratch.

5. Poor security

Last but not least, there’s nothing quite like being kicked when you’re already down. It’s not as if getting hacked isn’t bad enough. Nevertheless, evidence of hacking suggests that your website may have serious security issues – something that doesn’t go down well with Google. The long and short of it therefore being that as far as security is concerned, there’s no such thing as overprotecting your website.