| Black Hat SEO is a real problem as more and more | | | | by the search engines. Usually found written in a tiny |
| SEO companies are set up every day. Just as a | | | | font size at the bottom of a web page in order for the |
| reminder, Black Hat SEO is to be opposed to White | | | | main content to make sense. |
| Hat SEO. Black Hat search engine optimization can be | | | | Link farms |
| defined as the practice of using unethical techniques to | | | | Link farms have evolved from the strategy of building |
| make your search rankings go up. | | | | inbound links in order to raise search engine rankings. |
| Here is a list of the bad techniques that would get you | | | | Sites have been built specifically to provide links, which |
| blacklisted by the search engines. | | | | are not particularly relevant to the site concerned. |
| Cloaking | | | | Search engines expect links between websites to be |
| As a general rule, websites designed for ease of use | | | | based on relevant content. Sites that build links of no |
| by visitors will attract search engine spiders. That | | | | relevance, purely for the sake of search engine |
| doesn't stop some less than reputable individuals from | | | | optimisation, can be banned from search engines, |
| disguising their pages in an attempt to gain an unfair | | | | maybe for life. |
| advantage. What you see is most definitely not what | | | | Doorway Pages |
| you get. | | | | Probably the easiest way to get blacklisted and lose |
| The information presented to the search engine is not | | | | even genuinely earned rankings, doorway pages are |
| the same that the human visitor gets to see. One | | | | appended to a website, giving no value to a visitor. The |
| example is to put in some text the same colour as the | | | | page exists solely to attract search engines to the |
| background. In this way, the spiders but not the human | | | | targeted keyword or phrase. These pages are usually |
| eye can pick up keywords. This enables the website | | | | mass-produced and posted automatically by software. |
| owner to present well written content but give the | | | | Redirects |
| search engine the impression that the copy is filled with | | | | Used in connection with doorways, redirects |
| keywords, thereby attracting searches for those | | | | automatically move the visitor to a genuine page. Illegal |
| keywords. | | | | methods are constantly being devised to beat |
| Rest assured though, that if the offending site were | | | | attempts by search engines to detect this practice. |
| holding a high search engine position, it would be | | | | The search engines do generally catch up with them |
| spotted, reported and banned from search engines. | | | | and ban the sites. If not, competitors do pick up what's |
| Duplicate Sites | | | | going on and report the offenders. |
| Search engines would prefer to find unique content | | | | What colour is your hat? |
| throughout the net. When affiliate schemes first | | | | Many of these practices are blatantly in use today. |
| became popular, some web owners would post | | | | Some webmasters tread the thin line between illegality |
| duplicate sites in an attempt to outrank the site being | | | | and shady practices. Search engine rankings can still |
| promoted and siphon off sales from the original. | | | | be achieved by operating a "black hat" strategy. |
| Subsequently, the search engines now have | | | | Generally though, any gain is at best temporary and |
| procedures in place to stop duplicate sites. Sites that | | | | offenders do face the prospect of being blacklisted by |
| may have been altered slightly to avoid detection can | | | | the search engines. SEO agencies that operate |
| be spotted by competitors, reported and banned. | | | | legitimately and provide good seo services, will not |
| Keyword Stuffing | | | | tolerate competitors getting an unfair advantage and |
| The easiest to spot and most common example of | | | | will report offenders. Some bans can be permanent, |
| "black hat" methods, keyword stuffing relies on | | | | but even in cases where a site is only banned for a |
| targeted keywords being placed en masse on a web | | | | temporary period; it is increasingly difficult to get back |
| page in the anticipation of being picked up and indexed | | | | up the ladder. |