What are Black-Hat SEO and White-Hat SEO? Representative Techniques of Black-Hat SEO

What are Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO measures?
What is the difference between Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO?

Do you have such questions?

In fact, there are strategies in SEO that should not be implemented and those that should be actively pursued, referred to as Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO.

If these methods are not properly understood, there is a possibility of receiving penalties from search engines, so caution is necessary.

In this article, we will explain the differences between Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO, as well as representative methods of Black Hat SEO.

If you are responsible for the SEO of your company’s site or are just starting to work on SEO, please use this as a reference.

What are Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO?

First, let’s explain Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO.

The overview of Black Hat SEO and White Hat SEO is as follows.

In simple terms, Black Hat SEO refers to undesirable SEO methods, while White Hat SEO refers to desirable SEO methods.

Since Black Hat SEO violates Google’s guidelines, it is a dangerous method that may result in penalties from Google.

For example, Google’s guidelines provide examples of content that qualifies as duplicate content:

Examples of unauthorized duplicated content include the following:

• Sites that copy content from other sites and repost it without adding original content or additional value
• Sites that copy content from other sites and make minor modifications (such as replacing phrases with synonyms or using automated methods) before reposting
• Sites that publish content feeds from other sites without providing any unique organization or user convenience
• Sites that embed videos, images, or other media from other sites without providing any substantial added value to users

  Citation: Unauthorized Duplicate Content | Search Central

In the 2010s, Black Hat SEO was popular and could achieve high rankings, but now Google’s algorithms have strengthened, making it relatively difficult to rank highly using Black Hat SEO.

In contrast, White Hat SEO is the correct SEO method that follows Google’s guidelines.

Based on Google’s user-first philosophy, it aims to achieve high rankings by conveying accurate information to search engines and users.

Naturally, White Hat SEO is what should be pursued for higher rankings.

Black Hat SEO is likely to further decline in effectiveness and become a meaningless method that only carries the risk of penalties, making it necessary to implement White Hat SEO in your SEO efforts.

That said, since the term Black Hat SEO was created, some may wonder if there was any effectiveness to Black Hat SEO.

In the next section, we will discuss whether it is possible to achieve high rankings with Black Hat SEO.

Can You Achieve High Rankings with Black Hat SEO?

While black hat SEO is generally malicious and carries the risk of penalties, implementing its strategies can lead to higher rankings.

The primary reason for employing black hat SEO is that, despite the risk of penalties, its impact on search rankings can be significant.

Google has implemented various measures against black hat SEO, including penalties and nullifying its effects, but it cannot effectively address all forms of black hat SEO.

Thus, even websites engaging in black hat SEO may occasionally receive favorable evaluations from Google and rank higher.

However, black hat SEO tactics that were popular in the past have been addressed by Google, and even if a site currently ranks well using these tactics, it is still at risk of penalties in the future.

In the next chapter, we will introduce representative black hat SEO methods throughout the history of SEO.

To practice proper SEO, it’s essential to review the history of black hat SEO.

Representative Black Hat SEO Methods Over Time

Since the concept of SEO was introduced, black hat SEO has been practiced against Google’s policies.

In fact, there are various types of black hat SEO, with trends changing over time.

This chapter presents representative black hat SEO methods chronologically.

Each method will be explained in detail.

Keyword Abuse (Keyword Stuffing)

A representative strategy of black hat SEO is keyword abuse (keyword stuffing).

Keyword abuse refers to the practice of randomly inserting target keywords into content to aim for higher rankings.

SEO inherently requires increasing the relevance to the user’s search keywords.

The strategy of keyword stuffing emerged to enhance relevance.

You might hear advice about including a certain percentage of keywords, but this is a remnant of keyword stuffing.

Keyword stuffing lost its effectiveness due to the continuous Panda updates implemented since 2011.

Currently, strategies that include excessive keywords are ineffective, so it is advisable to incorporate keywords naturally into web pages.

Duplicate Content

Creating duplicate content to increase the volume of information on a website is one form of black hat SEO.

In the past, there were many cases of copying content from competitor sites or minimally editing it for publication on one’s own site to increase information volume.

Google evaluates not only individual web pages (content) but also the overall information volume of the entire website when assessing search rankings.

For instance, to rank for “whitening,” you need to create multiple web pages related to whitening and dental treatments on your site.

Ideally, original content that incorporates unique insights and experiences from your company is preferred.

However, since content creation is time-consuming and labor-intensive, more websites resorted to producing duplicate content.

Creating duplicate content not only risks penalties from Google but also potentially violates copyright laws, so it should be avoided at all costs.

Duplicate content began to decline gradually after the Panda update that Google implemented in 2011.

The Panda update has been continuously updated since 2011 to ensure that low-quality pages with malicious duplicate content or keyword abuse do not appear in search results.

* The Panda update will be discussed in a later chapter.

Malicious Link Building

Among the various black hat SEO methods, malicious link building is a notable technique.

Malicious link building refers to the act of excessively gathering backlinks using satellite sites and review sites.

Since backlinks hold significant weight in SEO evaluation and heavily influence search results, there have been many instances of collecting low-quality backlinks using malicious methods.

Particularly, some SEO companies claimed to perform external measures while, in reality, they randomly placed links on satellite sites or sites created solely for link placement, raising concerns in the SEO community.

While Google does not prohibit the act of outsourcing link placement or selling link placements, many SEO companies engaged in excessively inappropriate practices.

However, such malicious link building significantly decreased after the ongoing Penguin updates that started in 2012.

* The Penguin update will be discussed in a later chapter.

Today, the number of malicious link building companies has decreased significantly, and it is believed that a majority are now reputable link building service providers.

Abuse of Expired Domains

It has become common to purchase expired domains and implement backlinking strategies.

An expired domain refers to a domain that was previously operated by someone else.

A domain cannot be contracted with the same domain name as long as the owner maintains the contract.

However, if the operation of the site ends due to reasons such as service termination or bankruptcy, and the original owner relinquishes the domain, a third party can contract the same domain name.

For example, Mr. A operated a hair removal salon and had a website using the domain “https://abc.com”.

However, if the salon went out of business due to poor performance and canceled the domain “https://abc.com”, Mr. B can then contract the same domain name and operate a new site.

Expired domains often come with existing backlinks.

Before the Penguin update in 2012, the evaluation of backlinks was highly valued, making it easy to achieve high rankings by purchasing many expired domains with numerous backlinks and linking them to one’s own site.

Depending on the quality of the expired domain, it was also possible to rank higher in a shorter time than with a new domain by operating the expired domain as the main site.

However, due to the Penguin update, sites engaging in intentional link manipulation can no longer rank well.

Currently, the quality of the domain providing the backlinks is also evaluated, so be aware that backlink strategies using expired domains are nearly ineffective.

Malicious Curation Content

Malicious curation sites have also become a significant problem in Japan, employing black-hat SEO techniques.

A curation site is essentially a summary site.

A summary site refers to a website that contains many pieces of content summarizing specific information.

Intentionally disseminating inaccurate or misleading information through curation media and content is a very serious issue.

The next chapter will introduce some representative updates to Google’s core algorithm aimed at combating black-hat SEO.

Understanding what updates Google has made will deepen your understanding of future SEO strategies.

Google Core Algorithm Updates Against Black-Hat SEO

Google performs major updates every year, and the content varies widely.

This time, we will introduce three core algorithm updates aimed at black-hat SEO.

The content of these updates is included in the current SEO theories, so please use it as a reference.

Penguin Update

The Penguin Update was implemented in 2012 to address black-hat SEO.

Specifically, three major techniques were targeted by the Penguin update.

• Malicious backlink collection
• Cloaking
• Improper use of rich snippets

Before the Penguin update, malicious backlink collection and cloaking, which displayed different information to users and crawlers to attempt to rank higher, were rampant.

Additionally, the improper use of rich snippets, which displayed irrelevant information in descriptions and reviews shown in search results, was also addressed by the Penguin update.

The Penguin update has continued to be updated since 2012, building a more accurate algorithm.

Panda Update

The Panda Update was implemented in 2011 to prevent low-quality content from appearing in search results.

Four major types of websites were targeted.

• Keyword abuse (keyword stuffing)
• Unauthorized duplicated pages
• Automatically generated pages
• Valueless affiliate sites

The Panda update addressed pages that abused keywords, unauthorized duplicate content, and pages created by machines rather than humans.

In short, mass production of low-quality content and pages written in unnatural language became meaningless, and high-quality content became necessary.

Moreover, affiliate sites deemed valueless to users also disappeared from search results due to the Panda update.

Like the Penguin update, the Panda update has also been continuously updated to build a more accurate algorithm.

【Summary】Black-Hat SEO is a No-Go! Proper Strategies with White-Hat SEO

Both black-hat SEO and white-hat SEO are commonly heard terms in the SEO field, but their realities are significantly different.

Before the evolution of Google’s algorithm, it was indeed possible to rank highly using black-hat SEO.

However, now black-hat SEO is ineffective and only poses the risk of penalties.

Therefore, for those starting SEO or those struggling to achieve higher rankings, black-hat SEO must absolutely be avoided.

Remember that SEO should be pursued with white-hat SEO through diligent and consistent efforts.