In this article, we\u2019ll give you a quick introduction to black hat SEO and why it doesn\u2019t pay off. Then we\u2019ll break down some black hat techniques you need to avoid if you don\u2019t want your website to be penalized.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s talk SEO!<\/p>\n
What Black Hat SEO Is (And Why It\u2019s Bad For Your Site)<\/h2>\n
Black hat SEO is a catch-all term for any technique aiming to improve your search rankings using sketchy or unethical approaches. In theory, the most relevant content should always show up first among results. However, search engines aren\u2019t perfect. They\u2019re\u00a0powered by algorithms<\/a>, and although their precise inner workings aren\u2019t transparent, some can still game the results.<\/p>\n For example, you used to be able to fill your pages with the keywords you wanted to rank for, and get them displayed among the top spots on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). This technique is called \u2018keyword stuffing\u2019, and search engines are now pretty good when detecting it. If those search engines think you\u2019re trying to pull a fast one, chances are your site will\u00a0get penalized<\/a>. On that note, let\u2019s break down the downsides of approaching SEO using black hat techniques:<\/p>\n Just to give you an idea of what black hat SEO might look like, imagine you\u2019re running two blogs about exercise equipment. For one of them, you focus on creating the best articles, reviews, and comparison articles you can. You also put in a lot of effort\u00a0researching keywords<\/a>. However, you only use them when it makes sense within the context of each article.<\/p>\n For your other site, you decide to play it fast and loose when it comes to SEO. You put up keywords anywhere you can, buy links from sketchy online marketplaces, leave\u00a0spam comments<\/a>\u00a0on other sites leading back to your blog, and more. In short, you decide to pull every dirty trick in the book to get an edge.<\/p>\n The second blog might get more visitors at first. However, we\u2019d be willing to bet few of them would be willing to return. After all, quality content was not a priority. On the other hand, your first blog might take several months to start\u00a0getting decent traffic<\/a>. However, you won\u2019t need to worry about search engine penalties or updates that cut your traffic by half. If you keep working on new and relevant content, traffic should flow to you.<\/p>\n Black hat SEO techniques are pretty easy to spot in most cases. However, if you\u2019re new to SEO, you might mistake some black hat methods as legitimate. Here are six of the most common black hat SEO techniques you should avoid!<\/p>\n We already touched upon keyword stuffing during the last section, so let\u2019s dive right into an example. Imagine you\u2019re writing a blog post about \u201crunning shoes in 2018\u201d and you start it off with a paragraph similar to this one:<\/p>\n Finding the best running shoes in 2018 is tough. There are hundreds of best running shoes in 2018 to choose from. If you pick the wrong running shoe for you, your feet won\u2019t thank you for it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Unless you\u2019re a robot, your posts should never read anything like the above. To be fair, there isn\u2019t a metric for how often you should use keywords within your content. The best we can recommend is you only use them when it makes sense to do so.<\/p>\n The logic behind keyword stuffing is that search engines rely on keywords and metadata to make sense of your content. So, it stands to reason the more times you use a keyword, the more relevant search engines might think your pages are for particular queries.<\/p>\n It sounds reasonable. However, as you might imagine, search engines have adapted to detect this approach. In addition, they also penalize websites using the tactic by simply not displaying the offending content.<\/p>\n The next time you\u2019re working on an article, and you\u2019re not sure if you\u2019re overdoing it when it comes to keywords, just go over it a few times. Make sure\u00a0what you\u2019re saying sounds natural<\/a>, and if possible, get another set of eyes to go over it. You can even use\u00a0Yoast SEO<\/a>\u00a0or another plugin to monitor keyword density and usage. If you\u2019re overdoing it with the keywords, chances are it\u2019ll be noticeable to others.<\/p>\n One of the ways search engines determine what content is the \u2018best\u2019 is by checking how many other websites are linking back to it. The logic is that if your content is good, other sites will want to share it with their visitors.<\/p>\n In fact,\u00a0backlinks<\/a>\u00a0are one of the\u00a0most important criteria<\/a>\u00a0search engines use to rank your website. A lot of unscrupulous people take advantage of this by offering to place links on their sites leading back to yours:<\/p>\n It sounds like a reasonable proposition since you both get something you want. However, if someone is selling links, chances are you\u2019re not their only client. They\u2019ll want to sell as many as possible, so search engines might mark them as spam.<\/p>\n The result usually is that you\u2019ll waste money on links not helping your site rise in the SERPs. In fact, you might get penalized for them. As for the person who sold those links to you, they\u2019ll probably just keep trying to swindle more people out of their money.<\/p>\n As far as black hat SEO techniques go, article spinning is one of the most egregious. The concept is to find articles targeting the same topics you want to write on, then rewrite them\u00a0just\u00a0<\/em>enough so search engines won\u2019t notice they\u2019re essentially the same content. For example, here\u2019s another version of this same paragraph:<\/p>\n When it comes to black hat SEO, there are few techniques worse than article spinning. It involves finding posts that tackle the same ideas you want to publish, and changing their wording enough to make them appear unique.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n To be fair, chances are you\u2019ll find plenty of other people have already tackled a lot of the same subjects you may want to. However, this doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s impossible to write original articles. It\u2019s always possible to take a shot at the same ideas other people have and\u00a0improve on them<\/a>\u00a0without copying their content in the slightest.<\/p>\n On top of being unethical, a lot of services enable people\u00a0to\u00a0detect\u00a0when someone copies<\/a>\u00a0their content. You\u00a0might\u00a0<\/em>fool those services and search engines. However, with all the effort it would take, you\u2019d be better off writing original articles in the first place.<\/p>\n Schema markup<\/a>\u00a0is a type of code you can add to your pages so search engines can understand their contents better. With schema markup, you can completely overhaul your meta descriptions and transform them into rich snippets, like this one:<\/p>\n The more information you give search engines, the more likely the algorithm knows when to display your pages. Plus, rich snippets feature a\u00a0higher Click-Through Rate (CTR)<\/a>\u00a0than normal links. Thus, it makes sense to use them whenever possible.<\/p>\n Using keywords within your markup makes sense. However, the same rules apply to schema markup as they do to the rest of your content. You should never try to spam keywords within your markup or your meta description. Not only will search engines be able to tell but cramming a lot of keywords into a short paragraph almost never sounds good (remember the example from the first section!).<\/p>\n Web rings are groups of websites that link to each other in an attempt to fool search engines into believing they\u2019re more popular than they are. For example, imagine you have four websites all on a similar niche, and you use each of them to discuss slightly different content. Then, you add links to each other whenever it makes sense to do so within your content.<\/p>\n It sounds pretty cut and dry. However, search engines are good at catching this practice. After all, it\u2019s pretty obvious what\u2019s going on if you have a group of websites only linking to each other.<\/p>\n Even if you take precautions to also link to other sites, the backlinks you\u00a0do<\/em>\u00a0get might not benefit you. After all, search engines not only care about the number of links, but their quality. However, if you\u2019re part of a web ring with top-notch websites and content, you might get good results.<\/p>\n However, if you\u2019ve got a popular website with a lot of great content, you should be getting backlinks without having to enter shady arrangements. If you\u2019re having problems building links to your site, there are plenty of white hat SEO alternatives\u00a0you can try<\/a>\u00a0without succumbing to the dark side.<\/p>\n Last but not least, we\u2019ve got comment spam, which is one of the most obvious and least effective black hat SEO techniques. You\u2019ve probably run into comments like the following at some point on the web:<\/p>\n In some cases, they will\u00a0 at least make an effort to write a comment relating to the article. However, their main goal is to add a link to their website from yours. Instead of buying links or exchanging them, people just spam them anywhere they can.<\/p>\n\n
What Black Hat SEO Looks Like (And 6 Techniques You Should Avoid)<\/h2>\n
1. Keyword Stuffing<\/h3>\n
2. Buying Links<\/h3>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.elegantthemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/buy-links.png\")
<\/p>\n3. Article Spinning<\/h3>\n
4. Markup Spam<\/h3>\n
![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.elegantthemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/rich-snippets.png\")
<\/p>\n5. \u2018Web Rings\u2019<\/h3>\n
6. Blog Comment Spam<\/h3>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.elegantthemes.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/comment-spam.png\")
<\/p>\n