Black hat SEO: 17 techniques to know and avoid in a strategy
Looking for shortcuts and faster solutions to reach a goal, even in an unscrupulous way, is perhaps a natural feature of the human being, and the SEO field is no exception. In addition to regular and official practices, which respect the limits set by the Google Webmaster Guidelines, many techniques have been developed with blurred outlines or openly in violation of the rules, which – as we know – are defined Black hat SEO. Google has become very good at identifying and penalizing such black hat techniques, but this does not prevent people from trying them, despite exposing themselves to the risk of an algorithmic or manual penalty.
Playing against Google’s rules
The Black Hat SEO takes its name from the old cowboy movies in which the bad guys wear a black hat and actually who performs such techniques is likely to end – sometimes even unknowingly – in the list of bad guys according to Google.
To continue to be the most popular search engine in the world and provide users with the most useful results, Google must continually update its algorithm and try to limit the presence of irrelevant results or openly spam ones. The rules of the game – so to speak – are set by webmaster guidelines and are open to everyone, from web developers to SEO professionals.
Nevertheless, there are many people who want to win the game by circumventing the rules and then bring in illegal techniques: the professionals of Black Hat SEO know the rules of search engine optimization, but they use this understanding to take shortcuts that are not exactly provided for in Google’s best practices.
This mode is in contrast to the white hat SEO professionals, who to win in the SERP instead follow the guidelines for webmasters of Google, promote high value content, engage in in-depth keyword researches and so on.
17 Black hat SEO techniques to know and avoid
It is important to mention that these forbidden tactics are not always carried out voluntarily, so it is good to familiarize yourself with the SEO black hat to be sure to proceed only with lawful strategies. Then, let’s take a look at 17 famous and widespread black hat practices to avoid because they can result in an algorithmic or manual Google penalty, following the suggestions of Jon Clark on Search Engine Land.
Illegal techniques on links
Because of their weight and value, links are probably the first element on which the attention of those who intend to force Google rankings, leading to the adoption of a series of prohibited behaviors.
- Link purchase
A relevant and high-quality link can drive traffic to a domain and at the same time tell the Google algorithm that it is a reliable source.
A good backlink can also help Google map a site, allowing the crawler to have a better idea of the project’s central topic, making it easier to decide when and how to show pages in search results.
The purchase of a link, however, is against the Instructions for Google webmasters and, according to Google, it does not work; moreover, those who are caught may suffer a penalty or