WHAT IS BLACK HAT SEO TECHNIQUES WITH EXAMPLES

What is Black Hat SEO?

The usage of black hat SEO to gain good rankings often leads to websites getting penalized. Usage of duplicate contents, spam comments etc. are all types of black hat SEO. Black hat SEO refers to a number of practices which are used to enhance the rankings of a website in search engines. This is done in violation to the search engine’s service terms.

Black Hat SEO Techniques and Activities

1. Cloaking:

Cloaking is a black hat SEO technique through which the content offered to the search engine spider is different from the one offered to user’s browser. It is done by offering content based on IP addresses or User-Agent HTTP header of the user who requests the page.

2. Keyword Stacking and Keyword Stuffing:

Since keywords are a vital part of web content, they need to be paid extra attention. Keyword stuffing & keyword stacking are both types of search engine spam. Moreover, the text becomes difficult to comprehend if some words are repeated too many times.

3. Tiny Text, Hidden Text and Hidden Links:

The usage of illegible text at the page’s bottom by making the text of the same color as the background, or images or format text which are visually traceable as links is something which needs to be avoided under all circumstances.

4. Doorway Pages or Gateway Pages:

This refers to the haphazard stuffing of pages with keyword phrases with the main goal of acquiring a high ranking before automatically redirecting visitors to a different page.

5. Bait-and-Switch or Page Swapping:

This is done by getting a web page indexed and ranked before changing it completely. By clicking on a result in SERP, the user is taken to a page which is way different from keywords which were used for searching and description offered in SERP.

6. Duplicate Content or Mirror Site:

This refers to copying of a substantial amount of content from a different website, with or without its permission. For instance, a website reprints an authoritative article elsewhere to increase the number of visitors.

7. Paid Links:

Buying and selling paid links to enhance rankings were earlier a common phenomenon. This was an acceptable practice of link building till 2007 when Google declared that paid links violated their Webmaster Guidelines.

8. Article Spinning:

Article spinning refers to re-writing of an article for creating original copies to avoid creating duplicate contents which can incur penalties from search engines like Google.

9. Spam comments:

Though a blog can be a very useful marketing tool, spammers through their negative comments can create a perception that a site is less credible. It can have an adverse impact on the ranking of the website.

10. Links Farms, Link Wheels or Link Networks:

Since most search engines tend to ignore link farms and reciprocal links, many people use a link wheel where many websites with similar themes are available to create a circle of links. It is mainly used to try & dupe search engines by hiding reciprocal links through the usage of third party websites.

11. Cybersquatting or Domain Squatting:

This refers to registering, or using a domain name with a bad motive to make profits using someone’s else’s trademark.

12. Cookie Stuffing or Cookie Dropping:

This is a malpractice related to affiliate marketing. This is done when you insert a cookie on someone’s computer without letting them know.

  Why should you avoid Black Hat SEO?

The usage of the above-mentioned SEO methods can lead to your website getting penalized. Therefore, avoiding them at all costs should be your priority.