Digital marketing specialists have probably heard of the term known as blackhat SEO. Blackhat SEO embraces a collection of strategies utilized to boost a website's or page's ranking in search engine rankings, but by means that violate the search engines' terms of service.
Fundamentally, blackhat SEO is a quickfire approach that can get your site to the top of search engine rankings quickly. However, these techniques are usually seen as dishonorable, and search engines like Google can heavily penalize sites found using them.
An infamous blackhat technique is keyword stuffing. This means filling a webpage with key terms or numbers to manipulate a site's ranking in Google search rankings. They might appear in a list, pile, out of context or in a hidden div.
Establishing link farms is another common method. Here, sites are tied together in a circular network to improve the click here rank of all the pages in the circle. However, if a website is linked to from many irrelevant sites, it could also be penalized.
Cloaking is an even more extreme blackhat method. This is when different content is presented to search engines than to users, essentially redirecting users to different pages aside from their permission.
Despite the risks, why do people use blackhat SEO? The simple answer is: to achieve quick results. These tactics give websites the illusion of relevance, boosting them up the search results quickly.
However, the gain is fleeting. Search engines now incorporate sophisticated algorithms that identify these deceptive techniques. Once they're identified, penalties can include decreased rankings or even being removed entirely from the search index.
As a consequence, many websites are moving towards white hat SEO strategies. These are approaches that aim to build a website's prominence in legitimate ways. Some examples are creating quality content that provides valuable information to the reader, optimizing website tags, or creating a positive user interface.
To sum up, while blackhat SEO may seem a fast way to increase your site's visibility, it's a risky game to play. It's smarter to concentrate whitehat SEO strategies, that improve your website through appropriate means, consequently providing sustainable success.