SEO Horror Stories: The Impact of Black Hat SEO

Has it ever crossed your mind to try black hat SEO techniques to boost your site’s visibility online?  

If yes, you are far from alone. However, while black hat SEOBlack Hat SEO is a term used to describe practices by webmasters who try to manipulate search engine rankings in ways that are not in keeping with the intent of the search engines. may seem like a quick way to boost your rankings, the potential repercussions more than outweigh any possible benefits.  

Still not convinced that white hat SEO is the way to go? 

Within the below guide, we will uncover the worst SEO horror stories that we have encountered. Plus, discover: 

• What is black hat SEO? 
• 5 Black hat SEO examples  
• What is the difference in white hat SEOWhite hat SEO is an ethical form of search engine optimization (SEO) which follows the guidelines and best practices for search engines to allow a website to rank higher in a search engine's results page. and black hat SEO practices 
• What the best white hat SEO practices are 

Ready to be shocked and put off black hat SEO for life?  

Let’s get started.  

What is Black Hat SEO? 

Black hat SEO involves the use of unsavoury techniques to get a website ranking higher on SERPs. Not only are black hat techniques highly frowned upon by Google and other popular search engines such as Yahoo and Bing, but they also have a negative impact on the user experience.  

If you are tempted to use black hat techniques to rise in the ranks of Google, you should know that the Google algorithm has become a lot more sophisticated in recent years. It is now much more effective at catching out sites using unethical SEO techniques.  

What happens if you are caught using black hat SEO?  

If you actively, or even accidentally, go against the guidelines set out by Google and try to manipulate the search engine into ranking you higher, you will be penalised for it.  

Worst case scenario, your site is wiped completely from SERPs, or, at the very least, your site gains a much lower position.  

5 Black Hat SEO Examples  

Keyword Stuffing 

Marketers used to rely heavily on keywords to improve a site’s ranking, with quantity being favoured over quality. However, this is now a prime example of black hat SEO.  

Known as keyword stuffingKeyword stuffing is a technique that attempts to give pages higher rankings in search engine result pages by inserting the same keywords over and over again., this refers to the SEO practice of filling your content with as many keywords as possible, regardless of whether or not they are relevant. Some marketers also add multiple variations of the same keywords, again adding no value to the user experience.  

Google does not look favourably upon keywordKeywords are the words and phrases that potential customers might search for to find your business. stuffing and will penalise a site for using this underhand SEO technique.  

Below is an example of keyword stuffing that resulted in a Google penalty: 

“We are a digital marketing company in London. Digital marketing is what we do best. If you need help with digital marketing, get in touch with our digital marketing experts here.” 

It’s not hard to see why Google penalised the above site, as the use of the keywords “digital marketing” clearly sounds forced and unnatural. 

Sneaky RedirectsA redirect is a web page that loads in place of another web page. 

A redirect is when someone is sent to a different URL than the one that they originally clicked on. When used as a black hat SEO technique, a sneaky redirect is often applied to redirect a search engine to one page and all other users to another. This is in clear violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and can sometimes be a type of web attribution fraud.  

One example of sneaky redirects is when a site redirects a highly authoritative page that includes multiple backlinks to a completely irrelevant page. This is done purely to trick search engines into boosting a page’s position in SERPs.  

It is worth noting that mobile sites are notorious for using sneaky redirects, and Google has made it their mission to crack down on these sites.  

Below are several examples of sneaky redirects that we have witnessed: 

• Hiding linksHyperlinks, also known as links, are the connection points on a webpage that take you to other webpages. within Javascript code to redirect users to unrelated sites.  
• Adding code that forces mobile users to be redirected to a completely different page  
• Using a script to show sneak advertisement redirects such as pop-up ads.  
• Using a script like JavascriptJavascript is one of the web’s key programming languages but coding it incorrectly can cost you in technical SEO terms. In order to avoid common mistakes, and understand how Java operates, here’s a quick guide to coding Java the right way. to redirect users to bad websites.   

Low-quality Content

Content that offers no value to the users is a common black hat SEO technique. This often involves using content from another website, known as scrapping.  

Not long ago, the Google algorithm was not great at picking up low-quality content, but all that changed with the Google Panda update. This update was created purely to find duplicate and low-quality content.  

There are several other black hat techniques that are used when it comes to content, including: 

• Bait and switch. This involves creating content about a topic that you want to rank well for and then switching it with another once you have achieved your desired ranking. As you would expect, this leads to a poor user experience.  

Groupon was previously accused of doing a bait and switch in a PPC advertisement. A tour company ran a promotion with a Groupon voucher, but this popular voucher merchant continued to advertise the promotion long after it had ended. When users clicked on the page, no discount was to be found as the content had been switched.  

• Adding invisible keywords. Another banned practice, some websites make a piece of text the same colour as the page background so that the page appears in SERPs for those invisible keywords. The user will then click on this web page, thinking it is about one topic when it is, in fact, about something else entirely.  

Paid Links

Buying and selling links is strictly prohibited by Google. They clearly state on their website that paid links are in violation of the Google Webmaster GuidelinesThe Google Webmaster Guidelines are the set of standards created by Google to ensure that the best practices in web design, development, and content are being followed., and any links intended to manipulate the PageRank algorithm will be penalised.  

As well as paying for links, this violation also includes sending a website free product in exchange for links.  

Again, Google have become a lot better at recognising paid links, and this is largely achieved by keywords. For example, they will check to see if the website that is linking to yours is relevant based on the frequency of related keywords and phrases. If their keywords are completely different from your own, this is a strong indication of a paid link.  

American business magazine Forbes were found guilty of using paid links and had to remove all of these to have their Google penalty reversed.  

Even Google themselves were caught including a follow link in a sponsored post about Google Chrome! This resulted in a 60-day penalty that caused them to drop in position on all search results for the term “browser”.  

Improper Use Of Rich Snippets 

Rich snippets, also known as structured data, allow you to change how your content appears on search engine results pages. It is most commonly used to help your content to stand out from your competition.  

There are several ways that you can add structured data to a web page, including displaying a book or a podcast. One of the most popular rich snippets is review schema mark-up, which lets users know that you have satisfied customers.  

Unfortunately, as with most aspects of SEO, some people use rich snippets to fool search engines rather than to improve the user experience.  

One example of black hat SEO use in rich snippets is adding a 5-star review of a product or service from a fake review site. By using structured data, this review will stand out more on SERPs and trick people into using this product or service.  

What is The Difference in White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO? 

While black hat SEO involves unethical techniques that go directly against Google’s guidelines, white hat SEO is everything you should be doing to rise in the ranks of Google.  

White hat techniques strictly adhere to Google’s guidelines and involve creating a long-term SEO strategy that will continue to perform regardless of any new Google algorithm update.  

There are several white hat SEO techniques that should be used to optimise your website for search. These include: 

• Create high-quality content. Rather than write purely for search engines, you need to be creating content that provides real value to your audience. You should focus on carrying out effective keyword researchKeyword research helps websites unearth the best keywords to drive traffic and visibility. This research is supported by a number of powerful web-based tools, the best of which we’ve listed here. and applying your chosen keywords as naturally as possible.  
• Make your site indexable. There is no point in creating great content if Google cannot view your web pages properly. SEO auditing can help you to identify any issues with your site’s structure and indexability.  
• Use keyword-rich meta tagsA meta tag is a structured data element that appears in the head section of a webpage.. Meta descriptions help search engines and users alike to find your content, so you need to ensure they are fully optimised. For optimum results, use descriptive, keyword-rich meta tags that accurately inform what the web page is about.  

• Focus on local search. If you are a local business, you need to make sure that you have accurate information on Google My Business.  
• Pay attention to user experience. Google has made it abundantly clear that they want websites to focus their efforts on providing a good user experience. One effective way to improve your UX is to carry out A/B testing so that you can see what web page design works best.  

Do you need help with implementing a white hat SEO strategy for your website? Get in touch with our talented team of SEO experts here today.