tumbnail-What is Black Hat SEO
Have you ever heard of black hat SEO? Black hat? What does this have to do with SEO?
Broadly speaking, black hat SEO is a term for SEO techniques that are less precise or not by technical SEO. Whether directly or indirectly, some may still use this method or technique so that websites can appear and rank well on the SERPs.
Then, is it safe to apply this technique to your website optimization efforts? Let’s find the answer by knowing more about black hat SEO!
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Get to know Black Hat SEO
So, what is black hat SEO? As previously briefly explained, black hat SEO refers to a term for techniques that violate search engine guidelines, where these techniques are used to determine the ranking of a website. Algorithm manipulation has its role in this one tactic. The main goal, of course, is to increase the site’s ranking on the SERP.
You need to know that each search engine has its terms related to the content to be loaded, website ranking, and so on. As users, of course, we must understand and comply with the existing provisions, right? Especially if our work is closely related to content creation and optimization. There are special points that must be considered so that both web pages and articles or content will rank high on the SERP.
Apart from playing search engine algorithms, black hat SEO tactics also focus on manipulating website crawls to increase website traffic. Users of this black hat tactic understand and know very well about the rules or conditions for optimizing websites on search engines. However, they use their understanding to take practical steps that go against the practice or rules of the search engines.
Not without reason, some sources say that black hat SEO can have a serious impact on your site. Of course, every action that violates or violates the rules has its consequences and risks if it is carried out, right? Likewise with black hat SEO techniques. However, even so, there are still some people who are determined to play games on the system and search engine algorithms to get high rankings quickly.
Types of Black Hat SEO to Avoid
Black hat SEO tactics refer to violating search engine rules without exception. It is possible that when you apply it you will get satisfactory results. On the contrary, you can only feel the results for a moment, not in the long term. Search engine algorithms can now quickly detect the possibility of such rule-breaking problems.
Then, what is included in black hat SEO? Let’s see a brief discussion below!
1. Hidden Text
In short, this one tactic is all about hiding the text by doing tricks like changing the color of the text to match the background color of the web page or intentionally using CSS so that the text can be hidden from users.
2. Keyword Stuffing
Repeating the target keyword excessively, that’s a short description of keyword stuffing. Stuffing keywords inappropriately on all pages of a website.
3. Gateway Page
A gateway page is a technique of creating a page with a specific search query target that intends to be a funnel on one page, which is a technique that violates the guidelines of search engines, especially Google.
4. Paid Links
The phenomenon where there are several individuals offering links for a certain price. The link scheme is one of the most common types of black hat techniques.
5. Cloaking
The technique of cloaking the presentation of content or URLs differently to users and search engines. The difference is aimed at giving or emphasizing a good impression on search engines.
6. Duplicate Content
Generating the same content for several different pages is known as duplicate content. The goal is none other than to rank for some keywords without actually creating relevant content.
7. Link Farm
A condition in which multiple websites link to each other. Links are a signal for search engines, especially Google, to show that your content is worthy of being said as interesting content for others. However, now, not a few are trapped in backlink profiles that look unnatural.
Here’s Why You Should Avoid Black Hat SEO
Using black hat SEO techniques can get your site banned from search engines. The algorithms of search engines are certainly growing over time. Detecting some suspicious actions such as tactics that violate the rules or spam can be easily done. Even if the hope of short-term success occurs, still, using this technique is tantamount to increasing the potential for delisting the website and getting banned in the form of sanctions. Here are a few reasons why you should avoid this one technique!
1. Have a negative impact on search rankings
Using black hat tactics is tantamount to you having a negative impact in the form of loss of site search ranking, visibility, or traffic ranking. Black hat SEO can result in decreased website performance.
2. Gives short term results
Success in increasing rankings as well as organic performance is the result of passing by if you use black hat SEO techniques. It is true, that using a technique would go through several processes. However, what’s the point if the process violates the rules that have been set? What are the results such as increased rankings and temporary performance that you expect in your website optimization efforts?
3. The quality of the user experience is low
In making optimization efforts, several considerations must be made, one of which is in terms of user experience when visiting your site. If you usually provide good quality relevant content, don’t go with black hat tactics that rely on optimization to beautify quality to attract the attention of search engines, not users.
So, how to avoid it?
After getting to know more about black hat SEO, of course, you already have a strong reason to avoid this tactic to trick the algorithm, right? Not only because they violate and violate the rules, but this technique also does not work or produce maximum and long-term slick results. So, how to avoid the practice of using black hat SEO tactics? Here’s how!
- Check the agencies and workers that handle website optimization carefully, making sure that they don’t have a bad track record before deciding to join you.
- Prioritize quality, both content and the website itself.
- Focus on user optimization.
Conclusion
Black hat SEO tactics can have a detrimental effect on your website if they are applied only to achieve satisfactory results in terms of ranking quickly. Granted, the gain was very fast, but the loss of yield was also faster. There is no guarantee that you will get long-term benefits from implementing it. Therefore, avoid the practice of implementing black hat SEO. To get more optimal results, learn and apply SEO techniques that are appropriate and do not violate the rules of search engines.
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