We can assure you that there are many “black hat SEO techniques” or simply bad practices that are still commonly used. “Google penalizes these practices and your ranking in the Google will not improve, on the contrary. In this article, we will discuss the 7 worst SEO optimization techniques that can destroy your position in Google.
What is Black Hat SEO?
First of all, what is Black Hat SEO? It is a set of on-page and off-page practices that are used to increase the position of a website or webpage in search engines, but which go against search engine best practices.
Toxic and paid backlinks
The first Black Hat SEO practice relates to backlinks. Specifically, it is about buying backlinks and toxic backlinks. The two may be related, but this is not always the case. We explain it all below!
Doubtful backlinks vs. toxic backlinks
Backlinks are very important for SEO optimization. They are one of the three main ranking factors for Google. They are links from another website to your website. Each backlink is like someone else's vote for your website. Therefore, the more votes, the more popular your website is and the more value Google gives it. As a result, you will also achieve a higher position in the SERPs. But please note: this does not apply to all backlinks! This only applies to quality and relevant websites.
Toxic backlinks
Toxic backlinks are not taken into account. But when is a link considered “toxic”? This is when a search engine such as Google considers that the link has been artificially and dubiously created with the specific aim of positively influencing the page's position in Google. In other words, “Black Hat SEO”. In addition, these links are often of very poor quality. If Google detects this, the site may be penalized.
Buying backlinks
The last example in the above list is paid backlinks. If Google discovers that you have purchased links in exchange for money, you can expect a serious penalty. This is against the Webmaster Guidelines. Buying links is therefore a dangerous black hat SEO strategy.
Keyword stuffing
As the name implies, keyword stuffing is the process of filling the code and content of a website with keywords. The aim is to change the position of the website in Google search results. Keywords are then used in the Meta description, URL, title, H1 tags, introduction, alt, H2, H3, and even multiple times in each paragraph.
