Digital marketing specialists have probably heard of the term known as blackhat SEO. Blackhat SEO involves a collection of strategies used to boost a website's or page's ranking in search engine rankings, but done in ways that violate the search engines' terms of service.
Basically, blackhat SEO is a quickfire approach that may get your site to the forefront of search results quickly. However, these tactics are typically seen as manipulative, and search engines like Google would seriously penalize sites found using them.
A popular blackhat technique is overusing keywords. This entails loading a webpage with keywords or numbers to game a site's ranking in Google search rankings. They might appear in a list, cluster, out of context or in a hidden div.
Establishing link farms is another common technique. Here, websites are connected together in a circular network to boost the rank of all the pages in the circle. However, if a site is linked to from many irrelevant sites, it can also be penalized.
Cloaking is an even more extreme blackhat method. This is when different content is presented to search engines than to users, effectively redirecting users to separate pages apart from their permission.
Despite the potential penalties, why do people use blackhat SEO? The straightforward answer is: to achieve quick results. These methods give websites the illusion of authority, boosting them up the search results rapiidly.
However, the advantage is short-lived. Search engines now incorporate advanced algorithms which identify these manipulative techniques. Once they're identified, penalties can include lower rankings or even being removed entirely from the search index.
As a consequence, many websites are shifting to white hat SEO strategies. These are techniques that aim to build a website's prominence in legitimate ways. Some methods are creating meaningful Blackhat SEO content that provides useful information to the reader, optimizing website tags, or creating a positive user interface.
In conclusion, while blackhat SEO may seem a quick way to increase your site's visibility, it's a dangerous game to play. It's wiser to concentrate whitehat SEO techniques, which improve your website through legal means, thus providing sustainable success.