What is black hat SEO and why should you avoid it?
When Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) launched in 1991, there weren’t any rules. Marketers took this as an opportunity and advantage to use hacking practices that leveraged keyword stuffing and spammy links to rank higher in search results.
This is known as ‘Black Hat SEO’.
Black hat SEO are the tactics that are used to rank a website that violates search engine guidelines. These tactics are an attempt to manipulate search engine algorithms to improve a site’s rankings on the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).
However, search engines such as Google and Bing, make it very clear which types of practices go against their guidelines. By using Black Hat SEO tactics, your website can be penalised, resulting in lower rankings and a decline in organic traffic.
There are huge risks involved with using black hat tactics to rank your website, and for this reason, most marketers choose to avoid such approaches. Here are three of the main reasons to avoid black hat SEO:
1. It can negatively impact your search rankings and visibility
The most important reason to avoid black hat SEO tactics is that they will ultimately result in your website losing visibility, traffic, and search rankings. Take a look at the example below, this shows the negative impact on traffic due to a site using black hat tactics.
Once a website loses its visibility and traffic conversions, leads and revenue will also decline.
2. It doesn’t drive long-term results
In the rare case that a sites’ ranking and organic performance initially increases from black hat techniques, these results are not often maintained. Google constantly updates its algorithm to tackle black hat SEO techniques. The moment Google determines that a site is participating in unethical approaches, a loss in traffic is inevitable.
3. Results in a poor user experience (UX)
When optimising a site for SEO, it is important to consider how the content provides a great UX. However, black hat SEO techniques do the exact opposite; they optimise for the search engines rather than the user. Above all, it is important to create an authentic and friendly website that gains the trust of the user. If primary consideration is given to search engines over users, there is a high chance that the site’s ability to convert will be very limited.
If you are looking to up your SEO game, but are unsure where to start, contact WebEagles on 1300 123 808, and one of our friendly SEO experts will be able to answer all of your questions.
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