Even novice website owners have probably heard of the term “black hat SEO” and know to stay away from it. However, they may not know how they can combat these tactics and avoid using them accidentally. Here are a few tips to help you fight black hat techniques for your website.
Know What Black Hat Is
You can’t fight something if you don’t understand what it is and what it looks like. It is important that you not only know that black hat SEO are methods that Google and other search engines don’t approve of because they are unethical, but what techniques make up this term.
Black hat SEO breaks rules, presents content in an unethical way, and causes a poor experience for users. Some of the methods used include:
- Keyword stuffing
- Invisible text
- Doorway pages
The problem with black hat methods is that they focus on getting high rankings in searches and using unethical techniques to make it happen quickly at the cost of the user.
Use Black Hat SEO in a White Hat Way
Not all black hat techniques started out bad. It was the way in which they were used that caused them to gain the label. For instance, there is nothing wrong with using keywords in an article. That is how the search engines know what your topic is about and when to include the page in search results. Unfortunately, many website owners took this to the extreme and focused on putting in more keywords at the expense of quality information.
There is a method to use these techniques in a way that is appropriate and approved by search engines. For instance, buying old domains isn’t a bad thing if they are relevant to your industry. They become black hat techniques when buyers choose random domains that have no relevance to the new site.
Another example is leaving comments. Spammers often send out mass comments to multiple sites with links back to their site. Instead of choosing random places to leave comments, you can turn this into a white hat method by selecting forums or blog posts that are complementary to your site and leaving thoughtful comments.
Focus on Quality
Instead of focusing all of your time on SEO and ranking in searches, spend your time concentrating on creating quality content that will benefit users. In doing so, you will reap the positive results with Google because quality content is what the search engine is looking for. While you should focus on SEO and the methods that Google approves of, you can’t forget about your audience. After all, they are the reason you have a website in the first place.
Stay Updated
Make sure you understand what Google expects by staying updated on changes it makes to the search algorithm. Know what other reputable SEO experts are saying, and implement those strategies with your website. You can stand out from websites that utilize black hat SEO and outrank them with diligent effort. After all, it’s white hat SEO that wins in the end.
Read more: