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Black Hat The Unethical Treatment Of Search Engines

As search engine optimization has grown more popular so has the use of unethical SEO techniques. After youve read this youll know what techniques are underhanded and which are acceptable.

So what are Black Hat techniques?

Black Hat techniques are unethical techniques that some web site owners use to get their site listed on search engines. They usually use these techniques to get a high search engine listing. Here is a list of three common Black Hat techniques you should avoid if you want to please search engine spiders.

1.Keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing is the overuse of keywords in a piece of content. Generally this is repeating the same keywords over and over just to achieve a higher search engine ranking.

2.Invisible text. Quite a few cheap sites use this tactic which involves making keywords in a font that is the same color as the background so that readers cant see the massive amounts of keywords but search engine spiders can.

3.Doorway pages. These are pages that regular visitors cannot see but search engine spiders can. They are used to trick the search engines so that the site gets a higher ranking.
Why are Black Hat techniques bad? Theyre bad because they go against the rules set forth by search engines. Not only do they go against the rules but they also hurt the visitors experience. Who wants to see a site stuffed with keywords? Black Hat techniques are unethical and wrong.

Do Black Hat techniques work?

Yes they do which is why people use them. But these techniques only work temporarily. Eventually the search engine spiders catch on and your site is permanently banned from being listed. This is why you should never use Black Hat techniques. It may pay off for a few short weeks but it permanently hurts your site and its credibility on the internet.

So if I cant use Black Hat techniques what techniques can I use to help my site get listed high on search engines?

Fortunately there are multiple techniques that you can use to get your site legitimately listed high on search engines. Well go over two such techniques right now.
Keywords

Earlier in this article we talked about keyword stuffing. While keyword stuffing is an awful thing to do the natural use of keywords is perfectly fine. By natural we mean keywords that are spread throughout a document in a way that isnt blatant.

How do you naturally use keywords in your content to benefit your site? Well before you even write your content take a few minutes to identify some keywords that are relevant to your site. Then begin to write the content. Try to incorporate the keywords you have picked out in a natural way throughout the content. Ideally if your content is 600 words youll want to use the main keyword between 618 times which is a keyword density of 13 keyword density is the number of keywords divided by the total words of a document. Anything less than that wont be beneficial to your site. More than 3 keyword density might seem like keyword stuffing so try not to go much past 5 keyword density. One thing to keep in mind is that actual people are reading your site. Thus you should make sure that the use of keywords does not distract your readers from the whole meaning of the content.

Linking

Linking is a very common practice between web sites. How do you do it? Well you ask a site that is relevant to yours to post a link to your site on their site. In return you can offer to link to their site on your site. That way both sites get a benefit from the linking.

How does this help your listing? Well each time a search engine spider visits a page with a link to your site on it the spider will then visit your site.
If you keep the above in mind your site will get listed high on a search engine with no danger of being pulled.

While Black Hat techniques temporarily do work they never pay off in the long run. So if you want a legitimately high search engine listing dont use Black Hat techniques. Use the natural methods for high search engine rankings!

About the writer: Terry Detty finds email marketing and SEO software his passion. In addition to marketing he enjoys reading and occasionally goes out for a short walk.