Black Hat SEO

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Author

Alexander Zimpel

Published on

September 6, 2023

The term black hat SEO (black hat search engine optimization) was derived from the old, classic western films in which duels take place between cowboys. The well-intentioned cowboy usually wears a white hat (white hat SEO) and the villain a black hat (black hat SEO).

In search engine optimization, the collective term black-hat SEO stands for any measures that violate the webmaster guidelines of Google, Bing or Yahoo search engines. All these measures are aimed at achieving a better ranking within the results list. In order to achieve this goal, illegal means are used, such as hacking websites in order to place so-called backlinks that refer to your own site. There may even be legal repercussions. On the other hand, exemplary measures with regard to search engine optimization are referred to as white-hat SEO. Grey-hat SEO is the term used to describe those tags that are between black and white.

The real purpose behind search engine optimization is to improve the ranking of organic search results, which means generating a better PageRank and therefore more traffic. By using black-hat SEO, these measures are circumvented or extremely simplified and the same goal is achieved in an illegal way.

Methods of black-hat SEO against the Google guidelines

The methods for deliberately manipulating search engine results have emerged with the beginning of the commercialization of the Internet. Spamming methods are mostly used for this purpose, as these include features such as the use of text hiding or link farms and are very far-reaching. More intrusive methods are also used for manipulation, such as automatic linking. Automated software programs are used to place many links on different pages. Its content is neither real nor meaningful, as the texts it contains have been created completely automatically. With this project, it is hoped to increase link popularity in particular.

Spam techniques and black hat SEO practices include the use of cloaking, doorway pages, redirects or Russian links. A complete network is built within Black Hat SEO. Through this network, backlinks are placed on the content of corresponding pages, which results in an improvement of the ranking.

There are several methods listed by Google for black hat SEO:

Article spinning – With article spinning, new, unique texts are generated by changing existing content using an automated program. Normally, however, this leads to a low quality of texts due to the mass production of content.
Cloaking – If a search engine displays a different website than the users of the website, this is called cloaking.
Doorway pages – The pages that are located between the actual target pages aim to get more traffic. Such “intermediate pages” are known as doorway pages
Expired domains – By purchasing expired domains, the incoming links can be used for link building. These expired domains are linked to the desired projects. The person then benefits from a particularly high trust of the page that provides the link.
Buying links – Links can also be purchased for money from other websites, which leads to a strengthening of link and domain popularity. But this is also considered a black-hat method by the Google search engine and clearly violates its guidelines.
Negative SEO – Negative SEO is also used as a black-hat technique to take targeted action against the competition. The aim is to exclude the competitor’s website from the search engine index. One example of this is the deliberate placement of links on programs for the exchange of links on competitors’ websites.
Private Blog Network (PBN) – Setting up your own blog network is one of the most common methods. These blogs are then set up within a cross-link and these links can be achieved via the so-called satellite domain.
Software – Black Hat SEO can also be operated with software, such as XRumer. This is one of the most widespread spam methods in terms of black hat SEO. With this software, automatic registrations are carried out in forums, which create automated posts with a view to improving link popularity.
Invisible text – Invisible text is one of the oldest methods of black hat SEO. The text is not visible to all users on the website, but search engines can read it.

These techniques are anything but desirable for search engines. Websites that engage in these practices must expect to be excluded from the index of various search engines, such as Google. The methods presented belong to black-hat SEO, but Google has also continuously improved its spam detection technology. The Google updates Panda and Penguin are particularly important in the fight against spam. In the Panda update, an algorithm was developed that recognizes the content of websites that exist twice, i.e. that have been copied from one website to another. The subsequent Penguin update further developed the algorithm and the procedures against webspam were tightened even further.

How do I determine whether I am using a black hat technique?

With the help of Google ‘s “Guidelines for Webmasters”, website operators can get an overview of what Google considers to be black hat practices that can negatively affect the quality of the search engine. The unauthorized procedures listed in the guidelines ultimately lead to the removal of the affected website from the Google index. This process also applies to all other major search engines.

To test whether you as a website operator are using one of these methods without knowing it, Google suggests a test: For all the methods you practice as a website operator to maximize SEO technical success, ask yourself if it would be appropriate for your competitors to perform the same techniques. In addition, you should ask yourself whether you would feel comfortable explaining your procedures to a Google employee in more detail.

Advantages

Black hat SEO gives website operators the opportunity to achieve a large profit and high link popularity in a very short time. Many of the online operators also make use of this, even though they are in breach of the guidelines. Despite the risks, most operators only see the benefits, as spam detection by the respective search engine often takes a very long time. These website operators accept the consequences of these methods, namely a fine or exclusion from the search engine index. They really expect to be punished and plan for it. The method used by website operators is very simple. Google penalizes a certain number of websites. So if you put several pages with similar content online, the probability of being penalized decreases.

Disadvantages

Search engines are now so technically advanced that such techniques are recognized particularly quickly. That is one of the biggest disadvantages. The benefit that website operators derive from a black-hat method is usually less than the financial damage caused by a penalty.

White-hat SEO methods

To avoid all black hat SEO methods, you need to know which search engine optimization methods are permitted. After all, search engine optimization is essential for any good website. The following measures are part of white hat SEO:

Keyword structure – Content creation depends on the selection of keywords. It is particularly important to carry out a so-called keyword analysis at the beginning. Keywords should be defined for each landing page. The keyword with the greatest focus is then used in the meta information, i.e. meta description and meta title, in the URL, in the H1 heading and in an appropriate number in the text. In this way, you can ensure that search engines turn to your text and evaluate it.
Sustainable link building – Backlinks are another ranking factor. This natural link profile, which is created in the process, should be in an appropriate ratio of links. Some backlinks are already created by the users of the website. For example, by sharing the pages in forums, blogs, social media or similar. Then there are also the cooperation links, which are created through cooperation. To achieve this, both websites must offer the user added value for a suitable topic.
Good content – This is not just text content, but also images, videos or similar. It is particularly important to focus on the user’s intention as soon as a new text is created. The better the target group is reached, the more intensively the topic can be discussed. To ensure this, a good text structure is the be-all and end-all. To guarantee users the best possible overview, the use of paragraphs, bulleted lists and other formatting is very important. The use of images enables the reader to gain an even quicker insight into the subject matter. Many readers tend to read on through illustrations. Title, descriptions and alt tags are very important so that this content also has a positive effect on the search engine. Videos can also be used for this purpose, as they provide the user with an even better and faster insight.

Further onpage optimizations:

Internal links – In order to make it easier for the website user and the search engine crawler to find the content, a targeted internal link is just the right thing.
URL structure – The URLs should always be very user-friendly and also search engine friendly. These should also not contain any parameters or IDs.
Loading time – On average, the time it takes for a website to load should be between two and three seconds. If it takes longer, the user experience suffers. Tools such as the “OSG Performance Suite” can be used to check whether the loading times are in the green zone and whether there is still room for improvement.
Navigation – Navigation is particularly important for a website. This must be structured and comprehensible in order to provide the website user with the most important information at a glance.
sitemap.xml file – All pages of the webmaster’s website that are to be included in the search index of the search engine are contained in the sitemap.xml file. This makes indexing easier for the search engine and should always be up to date.

Grey Hat SEO

Search engines, especially Google, now have numerous guidelines to which website operators must adhere. This makes it increasingly difficult for operators not to commit any infringements. The following techniques already represent an evasion of white hat SEO:

Temptations to increase link popularity
Improvements to the ranking
Any approaches for unnatural link building

In order to give website operators more leeway, the degree of infringement has been graded. This in no way concerns the violation of Google ‘s Webmaster Guidelines or fully compliant search engine optimization. This transitional area is called grey hat SEO, as it is an intermediate area of black and white hat SEO. In the SEO industry, many websites fall precisely into this gray area. However, it should also be noted that the prospects for long-term success are not always positive. All operators who rely on this intermediate area are relying on the incompetence of the search engines. The catch, however, is that search engines are constantly improving their algorithms. It’s only a matter of time before grey-hat SEO is discontinued.

Which important keywords are particularly relevant for SEO and Google?

The term keyword refers to certain search terms, i.e. keywords, which are listed in the meta tags for the search engine spider (robot). Now the question arises as to whether the keywords in meta tags also have an influence on the Google ranking.

By placing keywords in the meta tags, it is possible, especially in the early stages of search engine optimization, to positively influence the ranking of the respective search engine. In the meantime, placing keywords in meta tags no longer has any effect on the ranking, as this very simple method was often misused in the past to achieve a good ranking. This applies first and foremost to Google.

Nevertheless, good keywords are the first step towards a successful ranking on Google or other search engines. This is because it determines the scope of the necessary on-page and off-page optimization. Keywords play an important role in the on-page search engine optimization of page titles, descriptions, content and link texts of internal links. Professional keyword research is particularly important for successful link building and the associated selection of link texts through topic-related backlinks.

How does a search engine work?

How a search engine actually works is very complex. Basically, however, the function of a search engine depends on what type of search engine it is. These are divided into the three most important types:

Full-text search engine – A full-text search engine works via so-called bots or spiders. These are small programs that search the texts of well-known websites. The links on the respective pages are also tracked by the bots.
Meta search engine – The meta search engine is characterized by the fact that no own pages can be entered directly. A meta search engine therefore uses other search engines as search sources. Examples of meta search engines are Metacrawler or Apollo7.
Web directories – A web directory can hardly be described as a search engine, as they were very closely linked to search engines, especially in the early days. In principle, the aim is to check websites individually. Over the years, however, there are now millions of websites that can no longer be checked manually.

Differences in SEO measures between large companies and SMEs?

Small and medium-sized companies have a much harder time gaining a foothold online than large companies. World-famous brands can use completely different resources for their SEO measures than small companies. The brands and stores that are already well-known everywhere primarily have a huge product portfolio to offer and are considered very trustworthy by users. Small and medium-sized companies first have to earn this trust. Due to the enormous product range, large companies naturally cover the most important keywords directly and can provide a large amount of content. In addition, the number of backlinks is almost impossible to achieve as an SME. The larger a domain is, the more authority Google can assign to the company.