What Is Black Hat SEO?
Several examples of black hat SEO include keyword stuffing, cloaking, and bait and switch page swapping.
Keyword stuffing is when keywords are overused on a page and make absolutely no sense to the reader. I’m sure you have come across this common black hat method numerous times in your surfing endeavors. These pages are easily identifiable by content filled with gibberish, but have one phrase being repeated over and over.
Cloaking is when a webpage shows different content to the search engine spiders, than it does to human visitors. An example would be a website that tells the search engine spiders it is information about a futon bed, but human visitors are shown the actual content which could be an adult site.
Bait and switch is the practice of getting a website ranked highly for certain content, then switching it to something that is entirely different.
It is a common misconception that only spammers and unethical marketers use these tactics. In fact, I know of a number of legit marketers who practice these techniques with regularity. This topic of course always calls into question the ethical boundaries of using black hat SEO. Is it unethical or is it a justified means to an end?
On one side of the fence, people will tell you that the search engines are stealing their content and using that information to make millions of dollars. They will argue that the search engines have no right to dictate how they market their websites.
Proponents of white hat SEO (using methods the search engines approve of) will argue that black hate SEO is unethical and just as bad as spamming.
However, as with spamming, black hate SEO can be very profitable, or no one would bother with it.
I have personally decided not to ever use black hat SEO, as the possibility of having my sites de-indexed by the major search engines is not worth the risks. I’ve found that if you use white hat SEO and give the search engines what they want, they will return the favor.
Deciding between black hat and white hat SEO is a dilemma all online marketers will face at some point. As with anything in life, it is a personal decision you must make alone, but be very cautious about weighing the risks if you do decide to do anything the search engines frown upon.