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| http://notaverbum.com |
Search engine optimization is a highly competitive field. Because information on the internet is not only all inclusive, but also global, people want to get their web page noticed quickly. When a keyword comes up with over a million results, you do not want to be that millionth website. Black hat tactics are sometimes used in order to try to get the search engine to believe your website is higher in rank than it actually is. It’s also highly risky to use black hat tactics.
WHAT ARE BLACK HAT TACTICS?
Because of the highly competitive nature of online search results, there are all forms of unscrupulous methods of trying to increase your ranking in the SEO world. Black hat tactics is the term used to refer to these forms of cheating.
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| http://notaverbum.com |
One of the more popular methods of trying to trick the search engine is keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing might not sound so bad. In fact, theoretically it sounds like a pretty good idea. You use your key term as many times as possible on your website in order to make Google pay attention to your website and give you higher rankings. However, keyword stuffing causes inaccurate rankings and is very unethical. Keyword stuffing also sounds terrible when someone reads your text. More importantly, it is ineffective and Google will find this black hat method and penalize the website for it.
Hidden text is also a very common black hat method which should be avoided at all costs. This is similar to keyword stuffing in the sense that the keyword is being inserted onto the webpage as often as possible to trick the system into giving you a higher rating. However, instead of openly writing the keyword in the text, those who use the hidden text method wait until there is a break in the paragraph and then type the keyword in the same text color as the background screen in order to trick the system. Although the reader will not be able to pick up the keyword because it’s camouflaged, Google will be able to see it.
WHY NOT USE BLACK HAT METHODS?
Not only are black hat methods unscrupulous, they will also do more harm than good. In fact, you can be assured if you use these unethical tactics to try to increase your ranking on a website Google will eventually find out and penalize you, possibly banning your webpage altogether. It is always important to stay clear of these and other black hat tactics at all costs.
