Take a trip down memory lane and think about how things were ten years ago.
When people incorrectly presumed that SEO was nothing but a manipulative marketing maneuver that was all about deceiving the search engine’s algorithm and using strategies to trick Google (or any other search engine) into thinking that your website satisfies the search query best.This isn’t the way things should have ever been, and SEO professionals should have always focused on building a website that actually is the best result for a specific query instead of just giving a false impression that it is.However, when it came to detecting web spam, Google’s algorithm wasn’t really that advanced back then.Taking advantage of the situation, many SEO practitioners were abundantly using black hat SEO techniques to rank their websites, but fortunately, things have drastically changed.In this blog, we will discuss what black hat SEO is, what risks are associated with it and which tactics you should steer clear of if you don’t want to come up against Google’s algorithm and Webmaster Quality Guidelines.
Simply put, black hat SEO tactics are used to manipulate the search engine’s algorithm to boost a website’s ranking in the search results.Search engines, including Google and Bing, have been very clear on the types of practices that violate their rules and the potential outcomes of using them despite that.
Otherwise, your site may end up triggering algorithmic spam action, or Google itself may issue a manual action when a human reviewer ascertains that the site is contravening the guidelines.
In the best-case scenario, a sharp drop in organic traffic and visibility will mean that the business needs to supplement it with a greater investment into paid media such as PPC.This decline in your site performance after using black hat tactics can be due to either manual spam action or algorithmic filtering.Drives Short-Term ResultsIn cases where using these manipulative tactics actually succeed in increasing a website’s performance and organic rankings, these are rarely preserved.Although it may take a while before Google finds out that a website is engaging in unethical practices, losing your visibility and traffic is inescapable once it does.The only thing which is worse than struggling to make a website rank at all in the search results is perhaps seeing a site’s rankings and traffic unnaturally bumped up only to decline abruptly any moment now.
If you prioritize search engines over users, then it is most likely that your site’s ability to drive traffic, rank higher, and generate conversions will be substantially limited.9 Black Hat SEO Techniques You Must AvoidIf you have just stepped into the SEO world, it is usually challenging to determine which strategies you should use and which ones you should strictly avoid.While a lot of SEO basics are well-defined white hat SEO tactics, numerous more advanced strategies need more attention to detail.However, you must ensure that you are following the right direction.