The Dark Side of SEO

SEO, or Search Engine Optimisation, is a way of getting sites like Google to place your website as close to the top of the list when someone types in terms relating to your business.

The importance of this is obvious, if you are near the top of the list, potential customers are more likely to see and visit your site and spend money with you. If you are beyond page 3, forget it, and beyond page 1, your chances of being seen by all but the persistent few is greatly diminished.

Because SEO is seen as so important, particularly to those who have a lot of competition for their type of business in the marketplace or those who sell online, a lot of different methods have sprung up to try and achieve more prominence on the search engines. As with all things, some developers are more scrupulous than others, and two schools of thought have been created. There are methods known as white hat, and those known as black hat. 

As you'd expect, white hat are the legitimate methods, like regularly adding new content with appropriate keywords in, or getting links to your website on lots of other relevant sites. But black hat are the shadier methods, which can eventually result in you getting kicked off search engine sites like Google which is essentially the kiss of death for your business. 

When trying to identify if you are being offered black hat methods, look out for terms like spamdexing, link farming and potentially things that happens ‘off page’ and be wary of the developer who tried to convince you that these methods are a good idea. If you do have a conversation that leaves you with questions unanswered, get a second opinion from a different company and don’t be tempted to take the risk. Remember, search engines have every right to ban your website from their service, and if they do, the consequences are devastating.