Netalot

This particular search engine optimisation is usually defined as techniques that are used to get higher search rankings using unethical means. In general there is nothing unethical about the processes except for what the search engines have decided they think falls under this category.

In other words what might be considered ethical practices of pushing your blog or web site to the first page of a search for a particular keyword or set of keywords today could end up being considered unethical in a few week’s time. It all depends on how many Google toes clever SEO folk have stepped on as to whether search engine companies are annoyed or not.

Here are some characteristics of Black Hat SEO currently considered unethical and if practiced may result in you incurring the wrath of Google and having your site blacklisted.

The first characteristic of Black Hat SEO is that the practice breaks search engine rules and regulations as set down by search engine companies. This is important to remember. There is no inherent unethical thinking here but what the search engines, for this mostly read Google, determine is unethical.

It is therefore incorrect to state that any Black Hat SEO is illegal. There are no laws involved here. or at least not any laws as set down by governments. There are laws as set down by Google of course.

However, Google even though it might like to think of itself as this, is not a government and the only way it can enforce behaviour it considers unethical is by taking action against the web site or blog by banning it.

Black Hat SEO also may be present if it creates a poor user experience directly because of the SEO techniques used on the web site. And it may be perceived as Black Hat SEO if content is presented in a different visual or non-visual way to search engine spiders and search engine users.

A fair amount of black hat SEO currently labeled as such was in fact ethical a short while ago. It is the abuse that some search engine optimisers practiced that made search engine companies label them as unethical.

Some of the techniques to avoid are keyword stuffing. A further SEO technique that is frowned upon is invisible or hidden text. A third Black Hat SEO practice that can get you in trouble with the search engines is doorway pages.

Black Hat SEO is tempting as the tricks actually do work, often only temporarily of course. They work until the search engines have upgraded their algorithms to counter the practices. What may result in a higher page ranking might also end up costing the site heavily when it is banned.

On the whole it is not worth using Black Hat SEO because of the penalty involved when caught. It is advisable to rather use efficient search engine optimisation techniques to get your site ranked higher, and stay away from anything that even remotely looks like Black Hat SEO.