What Are the Implications and Risks of Black Hat SEO?

10 Aug, 2022 Organic SEO Strategies

SEO is an excellent tactic for companies looking to get noticed on Google, but it’s essential to do it correctly. You want your company to be visible when someone searches for your services, ranking your company higher on Google can help drive more traffic to your site. If Search Engine Optimization is the good guy, who’s the bad guy?

The Nightmares of SEO

Black Hat SEO is a set of tactics people use to increase a page’s ranking in search engines through means that infringe the terms of service of the search engine.

This is in opposition to white hat SEO, which is the “good guy” of SEO.

Implementing Black Hat SEO tactics could do damage to your company by getting your site banned. Black Hat SEO has been used to describe virus creators and computer hackers. To see if any tactics you have employed to optimize your website is a black hat practice, check out Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.

To stay clear of this dangerous type of SEO, ensure that what you add to your site adds value to the user. If it doesn’t, and you’re just doing it to get a higher ranking, this decision may be a black hat decision. The following strategies should not be executed and are considered Black Hat SEO tactics:

  • Link schemes
  • Doorway pages
  • Hidden text and links
  • Hidden redirects
  • Keyword stuffing
  • Article spinning
  • Creating duplicate content
  • Pages with malicious behavior

Why Should You Avoid Practicing Black Hat SEO?

Although Black Hat SEO can give you short-term success with increased traffic to your site, the risks outweigh the benefits. Practicing Black Hat SEO could get your site banned from search engines such as Google. Your company’s site being de-indexed is the worst-case scenario, meaning none of the users conducting searches on Google would be able to find your company, branded or not.

Remember: proper SEO is a marathon, not a sprint.

Are You Ready to Implement Proper SEO Tactics?

If you’re looking to get your company to appear at the top of searches without cheating, BluShark Digital can help you get there. Why should you use a digital marketing company to help with your SEO? We understand the fundamentals of SEO to help make your company seen, whether that’s technical optimization, content curation, link building, or local search optimization. Bring your business to the next level and give us a call today!