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What is Black Hat SEO?

The term Black Hat SEO refers to the use of methods to increase the ranking of a website in the search engine results, and these measures are in violation of the terms of use of the search engines. The implementation of Black Hat SEO tactics may result in the site being blocked by search engines.

  • Seeking quick success at all costs
  • Is knowingly violating (Google) guidelines
  • Damages the website in the long term
  • Is sanctioned by the search engine

Black Hat SEO and the consequences

With the use of Black Hat SEO methods, one consciously accepts the violation of the guidelines of Google, Bing & Co. for the short-term increase of traffic. SEOs need a full understanding of Black Hat SEO and the consequences. Black Hat SEO is usually defined as a disapproved and unethical practice that can increase a sites ranking on a search engines results page. These practices violate the Terms of Use and may result in the site being banned from search engines and partner sites. A list of prohibited tactics practiced by Black Hat SEOs can be found in the Google and Bing webmaster guidelines. With any SEO technique, the first thing to ask yourself is whether you are doing the work for the user or just for the search engine. If no added value is given to the user, but the rankings in the search results increase, then it is very likely that the decisions made are more likely to fall into the area of Black Hat SEO. Likewise, it is a good “litmus test” to always ask oneself in ones actions whether one could explain ones SEO approach hypothetically to Google or a competitor without feeling uneasy. Of course there is also a grey area between White and Black Hat SEO, which is called Grey Hat SEO. Unethical SEO tactics like hidden links or text, keyword stuffing, guest posting networks, link manipulation etc. are considered Black Hat SEO measures and should not be used at all if you want to stay on board with Google and other search engines.

Other aspects of Black Hat SEO

A website can also be attacked by a malicious hack, virus or negative SEO campaigns of spam links. In the event that your site has become the target of such a negative SEO campaign for spam links, use the Disavow Links Tool in Google Webmaster Tools after trying to contact the webmaster in question to have these links removed. If you want to build a lasting business, you should avoid Black Hat SEO at all costs. Instead, one should look for alternative and permissible ways to improve search engine rankings. There are enough good and permissible techniques of search engine optimization which increase traffic and do not violate the guidelines of the search engines. These are called White Hat SEO methods. Although short-term success can be achieved by increased traffic to the website, the methods of black hat SEO are not advisable because their detection by Google is becoming increasingly sophisticated and the penalties can have a devastating effect on rankings or indexing in general. In other words, Black Hat SEO is the illegal use of more or less aggressive SEO strategies that focus only on search engines and not on a human audience. Another inglorious example of Black Hat SEO is the complete change of a website after it has been ranked by the search engines. Black Hat SEO is more often used by people looking for a quick financial return on their website than a long term investment in their website. Black Hat SEO can result in the site being completely blocked by a search engine. However, some windy operators seem to accept these blockages for short-term success. The use of particularly aggressive Black Hat SEO tactics can even have legal consequences (hacking pages to set links etc.).

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