What Is Black-hat Optimization?

SEO specialists who worked two decades ago remember for sure the days of so-called black-hat SEO. At that time, the variety of black-hat optimization methods worked well, and no one was punished for their implementation.

Today, search engines prohibit this approach. It is important to note that black-hat methods can be more effective than their white-hat counterparts, but they are also related to the great risks of getting subject to Google filters. Because of using black hat link building, your website may just fall out of the search results.

No wonder black-hat SEO practices are discouraged. However, the following information about black hat techniques SEO is useful to be aware of and is not given here as a recommendation.

Hidden links and text

You can hide text and links from the user in different ways, but search engines will still see them, for example:

• The text and the background color are the same;
• The text is hidden with CSS;
• The image covers the text;
• Text is made in zero-size font;
• Invisible links are made under transparent images.

Still, the hidden text does not always appear to be the component of black-hat methods. Sometimes, this is, on the contrary, a benefit. For example, you can enhance the accessibility of the resource with the <alt> attribute of the <img> tag by adding text to the image. This is a way that can be described in a reliable link building blog and can be used without hesitation.

Bombing with links as a black-hat method

This is another black-hat method, the essence of which is that the anchor of the link is not related to the topic of the website or page. For example, a site can sell food, but the link contains the phrase download Windows 11 for free.

This is the simple way to drive traffic to the site via such a popular request. However, a ban as a punishment awaits those who will use it today. By the way, competitors can do this to your site to drive it under the filters of search engines. Therefore, it is important to track possible link bombing and stop it immediately if it occurs.

In a nutshell, the use of such methods for promotion is strongly discouraged. If decades ago, there were still chances to stay unnoticed while using them, now, it is only a matter of time. Google, Bing, and other search engines are constantly developing their algorithms, and their requirements for the optimization methods for web resources are becoming more strict.

If you do not wish to get an eternal ban, use only white-hat SEO methods. Yes, they will not bring very quick results, but they will not lead you to trouble.