If you are new to the whole business of SEO and don’t really understand what and how SEO works, then you might be almost ready to forget the whole thing and hand it all over to an SEO hero, who does. There are some great seo services in long island as well as Cardiff SEO company.
And while we would be in agreement that an SEO consultant, specialist or SEO hero is exactly the medicine that any website needs in order to get towards the coveted top spot in Google, we would advise a few words of caution first.
The first thing any SEO hero you hire, should be, is at least transparent with you about the methods that they employ, when they take on your website.
WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM BLACK HAT?
Even a cursory perusal of the dark arts of SEO may have brought this phrase to your attention.
The term black hat summons up images of a sorcerer, maybe a bit like Sauron, casting darkness all over the internet.
Perhaps this is a little unfair. Black Hat SEO really isn’t anything particularly evil.
In fact, you might suggest that all forms of SEO are slightly like the work of the devil – but in a good way!
All that the term ‘black hat’ really means something that Google disapproves of. It does not actually mean anything illegal or that the cops will be out to get you. Although, the search engine cops may well be!
The reasons why people employ these Black Hat techniques is simple. They can work. At least, they can work in the short term.
WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF USING BLACK HAT SEO?
At the end of the day, you have to decide whether you think that the potential risks are worth the short term gains they may provide.
The potential risks include your rankings being affected by Google and in extreme cases, your site being completely blacklisted.
Naturally, if this is your only or main money site, then this is something to be very concerned with.
Anybody claiming to be an SEO hero should have a full and frank conversation with you about their methods and if they contravene any search engine policies.
WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF BLACK HAT SEO
- DUPLICATE CONTENT
This would be copying big pieces of text, or even wholesale stealing, content from other websites.
- KEYWORD STUFFING
Writing nonsensical sentences, simply because they contain the keyword that you want to target.
If for example the keyword is dogs;
‘This site is about dogs dogs that bark and dogs that like dogs and other things about dogs. Dogs.’
- DOORWAY PAGES
These are pages which have been optimized with a keyword, to make people land on them and then simply re direct to someplace else.
SO BLACKHAT MEANS CHEATING AND SO DON’T DO IT – RIGHT?
Well, this is where it gets complicated. As an SEO hero, we feel we must point out that in many ways ALL SEO techniques, both black and white hat are cheating.
They are all about boosting your rankings, after all.
The only difference is, that some of them are a little riskier than others and it is up to you to decide which methods to employ!