Black Hat SEO- The complete guide for beginners

SEO is vital to rank a site higher in search engines.

For business growth, ranking on the first page is most important so that it drives traffic to the site and helps to grow business.

So for that matter, people are using anything ethical or unethical methods to rank higher on search engines. 

There are three types of SEO practices 

• White Hat SEO

• Black Hat SEO

• Grey Hat SEO

Black hat SEO is the practice that is against the search engine’s algorithms.

And it results in a penalty to a site.

Here in this article, we will discuss Black Hat SEO practices. 

Here we go.

What is Black Hat SEO?

In our day-to-day life, we generally refer to black as not good. Like white money- black money, in movies, also White refers to good people black for bad people. The same logic applies here. 

Black Hat SEO is the unethical practice of ranking a website higher in a search engine.

Using Black Hat SEO techniques resulting in lower ranking or a penalty is not always a good idea to rank the site.

Google remains a popular search engine, so ranking higher in Google is like a dream come true. Google has algorithms that change frequently. Many people try these Black Hat SEO techniques to rank higher in Google. But Google is brilliant that it searched such sites and penalized them means a lower ranking of a site that means no organic traffic.

White Hat SEO V.s Black Hat SEO

White Hat SEO-

The name tells us what precisely White Hat SEO is?

White Hat SEO is the ethical practice of ranking a site.

These practices follow Google’s algorithm while ranking a site.

Black Hat SEO-

These are the disimproving way of ranking a site on search engines against the search engine’s algorithm.

Black Hat SEO Techniques-

SEO practices are helpful to rank content on search engines. But Some SEO people took the disadvantages while ranking content in a search engine. 

The following practices they are using for ranking a site.

Keyword stuffing

 I must say that creating content by doing keyword research and using the keywords appropriately in content is an art. The use of focus keywords in content contextually is an essential aspect. When users ask a query in the search engine with our focus keywords, and if our SEO job on content is excellent, there are chances to show your content in results.

But some people use focus keywords many times so that content becomes artificial. Without context, the content is useless for a reader.

This practice is called keyword stuffing.

In short, unnecessary use of keywords in the content manipulate page ranking.

Google explains keywords stuffing as-.

Duplicate Content 

Creating fresh content with the best keywords research is not easy, and high-value content is king for page ranking. 

Duplicate content means the copy-pasted content from a different domain and used as fresh content is against the google algorithm.

As per Google, the content should be unique.

When Google finds the same content in search engine results, it manipulates content for page ranking in search engines.

Duplicate content gets penalized and gets a lower ranking.

Even duplicate content from the same or one domain is also considered manipulation of rules.

Cloaking

Cloaking shows one piece of content to the user and another to a search engine.

In this Black Hat SEO tactic, SEO people create two views for one page, one for the user and the other for the search bot.

This hack is done for page ranking. For example, if a user clicks on a URL, he will show an image, but the search engine finds text or content on that URL.

Here Google explains cloaking –

Sneaky Redirects

Redirects mean when a reader is on your content and provides internal or external links. If he clicks on that given links to read more, then he will get redirected to the page where you want to. That means he will be on another page other than the page he clicked.

In this black Hat technique URL, the anchor text redirects the other page irrelevant to the content, or the anchor text is of different names, and the provided link shows products for sale. 

There are chances of cloaking in these practices where the URL for the user is different and other content for web engines.

Paid Links 

A paid link is another tactic that is against the google algorithm.

Google state on their website about a paid link –

However, some SEOs and website owners engage in the practice of buying and selling links that pass PageRank, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.

Paid links building is the practice of selling or buying links that manipulate the page rank. Many of the time, the links are from low-authority sites.

The paid links that are for advertising purposes are ethical. Generally, they are no-follow links.

Spam comments-

Image credits: Kasia Perzyńska-unamo

Have you ever experienced comments that are meaningless or promotional?

If you are a blogger and your comment section is open for all, that means if you are not moderating comments, then you can find many meaningless comments on blogs. Mostly these are automated comments that are sprinkled all over the web.

But these spam comments make your content impression unprofessional or low-quality site. So it is always a better practice of moderate comments.

These spam comments have the intention to get a backlink, and mostly these links get no-follow backlinks that are not passing the link juice. 

Keep in mind these spam links are harmful to your site as they negatively impact your site and cause a redder discomfort to leave a reply before leaving.

Artical Spinning

Article spinning is similar to duplicate content, and it is Black SEO tactics where articles are rewritten using synonyms or rephrasing the sentences.

Some tools suggest synonyms for the written blog or content and make a new one that is not considered plagiarism. 

In short, it is copy-pasted content from a blog or page but rewritten with synonyms or rephrasing the sentences.

Doorway pages-

This Black Hat SEO tactic is bad for readers. When a reader clicks on the link, that link redirects the reader to the irrelevant pages. 

Doorway pages are created to manipulate the search results of search engines.

It means it affects the search engine indexing by clicking on a link for a particular search query, and it redirects the reader to different sites.

Google explains a doorway page includes-

• Having multiple domain names or pages targeted at specific regions or cities that funnel users to one page
• Pages generated to funnel visitors into the actual usable or relevant portion of your site(s)
• Substantially similar pages that are closer to search results than a clearly defined, browseable hierarchy.

Hidden Text-

Hidden text or invisible text violates the algorithm.

The invisible text means a text with keywords in background color that the reader can not see, but search engines can detect it for ranking.

This practice intends to rank a site. 

Conclusion 

Black Hat SEO is not a good idea to rank a site, and it is risky to practice as it results in a penalty. The site may get banned forever or lower-ranking in search engines.

 Still, do you think Black Hat SEO is the best practice to rank a site?