Blackhat SEO Techniques That You Need To Avoid

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As the world of SEO or Search Engine Optimization becomes more and more competitive, websites have also become more creative with their tactics and techniques to rank higher. While some of these tactics are good, the rise of “black hat SEO” is also undeniable. “Blackhat SEO” pertains to those techniques that are considered unethical methods of SEO. Its main goal is only to rank higher and nothing more. This is in contrast with “white hat SEO” which aims to improve user experience to rank higher. However, using “black hat” techniques could do more harm than good. It will only result in having your websites get penalized which is very bad for its potential Google search ranking. What’s worse, it could even result in having your websites banned from search engines entirely. To help you keep from committing such black hat SEO techniques, we have listed some of them below for you to be wary about:

Cloaking

In simple terms, cloaking is deceiving. This technique basically displays content that is different from what search engine bots and users expect. Cloaking is done through using descriptions, titles, and keywords that are so far from what the actual content is about. If found out, websites using this technique has the high possibility of being banned.

Keyword stuffing

Just as it is called, keyword stuffing is loading a webpage with too many keywords for search engines to deem it relevant. However, this technique has been effectively identified by search engines since. What they do to websites that use such techniques is give them a low-quality score and place them in a ranking that is beyond visibility.

Article spinning

While content is the key factor in SEO, it also equally matters to have relevant and useful content. This doesn’t include those that fall under article spinning. This technique is used through software that churns out or twists other pages with similar content. As a result, the original article’s quality becomes low.

Doorway pages

Doorway pages are HTML pages that only add hyper-relevance to keywords. They are not visible to users, however, since they only target search engines. But they could still lead to websites getting ignored and banned as search engine bots become more updated.

Link farms

This technique concerns the use of hyperlinks. As we all know by now, hyperlinks are links that connect one website to another. They serve the purpose of gaining credibility in search engine results. In terms of link farms, hyperlinks can be seen in a number of different websites. Its purpose, however, is only to increase in ranking and nothing else. You must be wary of this as link farms are being effectively identified and banned by major search engines such as Google and Bing.

Contrary to the belief that such black hat techniques could help boost your website’s ranking, using them could result in being penalized. Even if you see effective results in one or two days, take note that such effects are not permanent. Take note that search engine algorithms are being updated more often now. This could result in having black hat techniques detected more; resulting to a penalization or ban. Ultimately, they are not worth the risk. So it helps more to stick to more ethical ways for your search results ranking to improve.