Into the Rabbit Hole: Why You Should Avoid Black Hat SEO

In the famous children’s book, Alice in Wonderland, the 7-year-old protagonist falls into a rabbit hole that leads to a bizarre world with all kinds of strange creatures. How did she even get there? She acted without thinking when she followed a talking rabbit with a pocket watch. (Red flags, right?). You’re probably wondering what this story has to do with how you hired an online marketing agency conducts Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).

Well, like your agency, Alice meant well, but she found herself lost and in danger several times throughout her expedition because she was impulsive. She didn’t always follow the rules and she tried to take some shortcuts to get home. Black hat SEO is the rabbit hole of digital marketing that you don’t want to fall into. We explain why.

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What is Black Hat SEO, Anyway?

Black hat SEO is a blanket term for practices that go against a search engine’s guidelines for boosting search rankings. Essentially, black hat practices cheat the system so that a website appears in search results. However, it can be counterproductive and may even result in penalties. Example of these kinds of tactics include:

  • Stuffing copy with keywords

As the term suggests, “stuffing” refers to the repetitive use of keywords – even if they’re irrelevant – in website copy. It doesn’t flow naturally, so Google is able to spot it easily.

  • Cloaking your content

This refers to when a website pretends to show one thing to the search engine, and something completely different appears to users.

  • Paying for links

You’re not allowed to pay other websites to link to yours. Rather use guest posting and other white hat tactics to build links.

  • Tricking users with redirects

Having a URL that redirects users to another domain is unethical. It also sows mistrust, so you lose them anyway.

Reasons Why You Shouldn’t Use Black Hat SEO

  1. It’s simply unethical.
  2. You might get bumped down the rankings list.
  3. Your website could get banned.
  4. Users will leave the site because it doesn’t offer value.

The point of SEO is to create meaningful growth for businesses through online platforms. It’s an online marketing agency’s responsibility to ensure that it’s done the right way. Black hat SEO isn’t the answer. Contact The Weblab for effective SEO strategy and implementation.

If you’re ready for our team at The Weblab to conduct an SEO audit (it’s FREE) for your business, stop on by and fill out the form. We are looking forward to helping you further your business strategies and beat out the competition!