Internet marketing has created an entire world of opportunities to promote a product and company. The use of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tools are one of the primary methods of increasing the visibility of a site. There are approved ways of getting higher rankings in internet searches, and then there are the risky, not approved ways. These un-approved measures are referred to as black hat SEO. Methods of black hat SEO include cloaking, link farms, keyword stuffing, article spinning and doorway pages. While these methods may give a quick fix to a higher ranking, if discovered may result in penalties and/or banning of the site.
Many companies that use black hat SEO find themselves experiencing a temporary high when the initial ranking reports come in. Unfortunately, those high numbers are temporary and they often fall even below where they began. Using black hat methodology to increase visibility for your website is tempting, but not advisable. The black hat SEO method has started causing website visibility to drop quickly. Finding the algorithm that Google uses to rank search order is almost impossible to discover. The better way to improve search engine rankings is to index the site, have legitimate pings and ping-backs, prevent crawling and develop good content. By consistently providing the reader with content that is relevant, the search engines will begin to notice that you are in demand, and your rank will improve over time. This is not a quick fix, but the results are generally long-lasting.
While the black hat methods are inexpensive and easy, the long term consequences of using them have detrimental effects that make them not appealing. There are other, more acceptable ways of improving ranking. Putting those methods to work for you may require more effort in the beginning, but ultimately, your customers will be better served by receiving content that is relevant and useful.
