in Black and White | SEO Secrets & Insider Tricks

Black Hat SEO

There seems to be a myth adopted by inexperienced Webmasters that the so called “black hat” methods of Search Engine Optimisation are some kind of magic bullet that will instantly have droves of visitors flocking to the pages of a site with very little efffort. This is simply not true –  black hat methods very often take a great deal of effort (not to mention cunning, guile, and technical expertise). The black hat 'newbies' can be seen asking often quite naive questions at forums such as Syndk8.

More information:

Syndk8, the “Black Hat SEO Paradise” found at: http://www.syndk8.net/forum/

To compound the disappointment felt by many beginners at not having an instant solution is the fact that It is usually necessary to understand 'white hat' SEO techniques before undertaking any serious exploration into the dark side. But the financial rewards for success can be very great indeed making the effort to learn and develop black hat methods very worthwhile; and also ensuring a constant supply of newcomers to the black hat arena.

So just what is “black hat” and what are the techniques involved, and why do people bother?

The reason people bother is because using white hat techniques alone can take a very long time to get results, so that the appeal of progress made quickly along with the  financial gains, is a strong motivator.

But Black Hat techniques are considered 'sinister' by those who campaign for standards compliancy and the notion of 'fairness' on the World Wide Web. In fact; an open advocate of black hat techniques can be flamed in forums and their methods despised by those claiming to carry the moral high ground - just like the goodies versus the baddies!

Quite simply; what the Black Hat practitioners are doing is tricking the search engines into believing that the sites they are promoting are more important and relevant to search results than they actually are. This can, for example, make a new site rank higher in the SERPS than a more established site. The use of these techniques can often produce a site that is utter nonsense to a human viewer, but very appealing (for a short time) to a search engine. And it is this reduction in the quality of search engine results that enrages the opponents of black hat methods.

It is important to understand that black hatters play their cards very close to their chests and usually will not share the details of successful strategies until they have been busted by the search engines, but some of the techniques that have been used successfully are described on this site.