Online visibility experts have probably heard of the term known as blackhat SEO. Blackhat SEO entails a collection of strategies used to improve 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 shortcut that may get your site to the top of search engine rankings quickly. However, these strategies are often seen as manipulative, and search engines like Google can heavily penalize sites discovered using them.
An infamous blackhat technique is excessive keyword usage. This involves loading a webpage with website keywords or numbers to game a site's ranking in Google search results. 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 rank of all the websites in the circle. However, if a page is linked to from many irrelevant sites, it can also be penalized.
Cloaking is an even riskier blackhat method. This is when different content is presented to search engines than to users, effectively redirecting users to separate pages without their permission.
Despite the risks, why do people use blackhat SEO? The straightforward answer is: to achieve quick results. These methods give websites the pretense of popularity, boosting them up the search results rapiidly.
However, the gain is short-lived. Search engines now incorporate complex algorithms which identify these deceptive techniques. Once they're identified, penalties could include reduced rankings or even being deleted entirely from the search index.
As a result, many websites are moving towards white hat SEO strategies. These are techniques that aim to build a website's prominence in legitimate ways. Some examples are creating quality content that provides helpful information to the reader, optimizing website tags, or creating a positive user interface.
So, while blackhat SEO may appear a quick way to increase your site's visibility, it's a perilous game to play. It's more advisable to direct attention on whitehat SEO methods, which improve your website through legal means, thereby providing long-term success.