
In many walks of life the temptation to take the quick and easy approach to things sometimes is a great temptation, but when it comes to SEO this is something that should be avoided.
The prospect of using grey of black-hat tactics may sound good initially but in the end it can really get you burned. Voova Digital are the professionals when it comes to digital marketing and our SEO specialists will suggest a more balanced route when it comes to SEO.
When you are taking constant risks in your effort to boost your SEO you really are also putting your business at risk. If you decide to take shortcuts and flout search engine guidelines you may have some initial success, but using either black or grey-hat methods is not a structured SEO marketing campaign.
If you are balancing a Google penalty against time and structure of a proper SEO strategy then don’t be surprised when Google gets wise to your plan and all of a sudden your traffic nosedives.
Steer Clear
As a recommendation for good business practice you should stay clear of such methods like black-hat or grey-hat techniques. No reputable SEO strategist would gamble your site’s reputation so recklessly.
Google’s algorithms get smarter each and every day and it is progressively getting harder for people to outsmart Google. This is particularly true for new SEO practitioners who try the quick and easy route and use black-hat and grey-hat techniques for the first time.
What are the risks of practicing such techniques? Google and other search engines are completely clear on their policies and what goes against them. Following is a rundown of the common black & grey-hat tactics.
Private Blog Networks
PBN’s are a way to shortcut building authority, it works by buying expired domains that have good authority and link back to your own site. However, building a PBN takes a great deal of effort and some crafty tricks so that Google does not find out what you are up to.
When sites have been bought and sold many times this is a red flag issue for Google and other search engines. However, if just one site in the PBN gets a penalty it can be passed on to any site you are linked to.
Negative SEO
In this dog eat dog world people sometimes sabotage their competitors’ websites. When this happens it is classed as negative SEO. Negative SEO generally involves using spammy links, scraping competitors content and then duplicating it over many sites and also trying to crash the site by driving too many bots.
If you are attempting to try any of these tactics then you could get a lifetime ban from any search results or end up behind bars.
Paid Links
Links are a vital part of SEO to improve rankings and help boost traffic to your site. However, it is a time consuming process. Some people consider that buying links is a good idea, but think again this is against the guidelines of both Google and Bing. If either of these search engines catch you doing this then your rankings could be wiped out and you may be liable for a penalty.
All of the above are risks that are definitely not worth taking, you will achieve far better results using white-hat techniques and a proper SEO strategy and you will probably spend less at the end of the day.