3 Black-Hat SEO Techniques to Avoid in 2020

With a new decade in full swing, it is important that internet marketers are aware of the unpredictability of their industry. After all, techniques that were once considered the most effective in SEO 20 years ago are now no-go territory for technicians looking to build high-quality ethical campaigns. Read on as the team here at Internet Marketing Questions go over 3 black-hat techniques that should be avoided in 2020…

Cloaking

When websites trick users and search engine spiders into reading two different sets of content, it is known as cloaking. In fact, this black-hat SEO technique is manipulative because the content read by the search engine is filled with false keywords that boost the websites ranking in the SERPs whereas users are presented with significantly lower quality information despite the websites high rank. With this said, it is important to note that cloaking can be considered a white-hat technique in very specific and rare circumstances.

Keyword Stuffing

When a technician is targeting a specific keyword, the phrase should be strategically implemented into the content with foresight in order to ensure that the text is still legible for the user. With this said, keyword stuffing occurs when content is filled with an overwhelmingly high number of keywords in order to manipulate the search engine into increasing a websites ranking in the SERPs. Luckily, the search engines are very aware of this black-hat technique and the use of too many keywords in content that is optimised for SEO will lead to ranking penalisations.

Plagiarized Content

With hundreds of thousands of websites on the internet, it can be difficult to create original content. With this said, duplicated content is a black-hat technique that SEO technicians and copywriters should avoid at all costs because the search engines are able to spot it instantly. In addition to this, plagiarising content from another site is unethical and does not provide the user with a reliable service which is why it should be avoided by technicians that are looking to create high-quality campaigns.

When it comes to SEO, it is vital that technicians stay up to date on the way that algorithms are updated by the search engine. After all, relevance and user focused content are now an essential ranking factor, whereas 90’s techniques like keyword stuffing are considered unethical because they manipulate the search engine. To find out more information about black-hat SEO and why it should be avoided, get in contact with a member of the SEO Enterprise team today!