The Black-hat Threat

Most businesses are trying to sell consumers something. It is the advertisers’ job to help market businesses’ products and services. But, what if those ad agencies used commercials or billboards to show a great new car that got 50 mpg, and when customers went to the store to see this wonder automobile they only found aisles full of waffle irons? Now, what would happen if television commercials, magazines, and signs were flooded with this type of misleading marketing? False advertising suits would be filed, company images would suffer, and buyers would be lost in a sea of dishonest commerce unable to find the products for which they were searching. This type of advertising is unacceptable, yet these disreputable marketing tactics are used every day to lure internet users to web sites. A tool that was designed to help consumers find the products they wanted has become infested with keyword stacking, link farms, and page swapping. As a search engine optimization marketer, it is important to use only quality methods for advertising. Unethical search engine optimization techniques known as ‘black-hat’ SEO undermine the purpose of search engines and threaten the integrity of internet marketing.

When Google started as a search engine on Stanford’s web site in August of 1996, the goal was to rank web sites based on how well they presented information and how many relevant links went to them (Battelle, 2005). Using a complex algorithm, Google was able to help consumers find the most applicable sites for their needs. This opened the door to internet optimization. It also opened the door to SEO marketers tricking the search engines into indexing unmerited sites. Proponents of ‘black-hat’ SEO claim that the practice is not illegal or harmful and only gives disadvantaged sites a boost in the search engines, yet their methods have earned the label, “spamdexing”.

Spam generally refers to unsolicited advertising on the internet. “Spamdexing,” is the use of “…words, HTML/XHTML code, scripting, or programming on a Web page that is not meant to benefit the user experience” (Thurow, 2008, p. 238). And, after all, isn’t user experience what the internet is all about? The danger of dishonest optimization lies in creating an environment where users become confused and give up on even legitimate sites. The claim that ‘black-hat’ SEO is not “harmful” is false. ‘Black-hat’ SEO is not only harmful, but also malicious. Once we assess some of the devices of ‘black-hatters’, we can begin to see just how damaging the effects can be.

1. Keyword stacking: This repetition of keywords or keyword phrases is meant to trick search engines into interpreting the site as more relevant than it actually is.
2. Keyword stuffing: Creating web pages that are entirely unusable by people. Pages will literally contain nonsense.
3. Link farms: Sites that contain nothing but links to other sites. Their sole purpose is to build links – relevant or not.
4. Redirects: SEO marketers will submit a relevant page to search engines, and then use that page to redirect traffic to sites with no relevant content.
5. Page swapping: Creating a highly optimized page for search engines to crawl. After high ranking has been established the optimized page will be swapped for the page a user will see.

All of these methods seek to subvert the goal of search engines; provide users with the information they seek and companies with positions they deserve. A pharmaceutical web site that earns ranking from using keywords that do not pertain to their products is wasting the time of consumers. Not only do these methods trick users, but they can potentially hurt the reputation of the company using them. They also go against internet marketing guidelines. And, illegal or not, there are repercussions for dishonest marketing.
The BMW Company recently was banned from Google indexing for page swapping (Taylor & Kerwin, 2006). This penalty is a common response to ‘spamdexing’ from search engines. While there are ways of getting back into the search engine’s good graces, the process is time-consuming and costly. Following more ethical guidelines in internet marketing could easily have yielded optimal search results without the penalty and embarrassment.

Despite the ramifications, there are still marketers who see ‘black-hat’ SEO as the preferred optimization method. Ralph Tegmeier, a software developer and search engine optimizer, is currently working on an automated content creator called Fantomaster. Fantomaster will be a doorway to “a commercial service titled ‘Customized Content Creation’ (CCC) which will offer clients just that: 100% unique customized content created to their specifications in terms of topics, targeted keyword phrases, links etc. in any conceivable volume. Moreover, this is content that is not detectable in any way as having been autogenned” (Tegmeier, 2009).

When internet content is auto generated and no longer benefits consumers, what use will the internet be? Search engines like Google see the imminent threat of ‘black-hat’ SEO and have tried to guard against the misuse of content, but the continued unethical practices are still around. And no, ‘black-hat’ SEO is not illegal, but only because the internet is more difficult to regulate than other medias. There is nothing productive in ‘black-hat’ systems. As one ‘black-hat’ opponent stated, “[black-hat SEO is] like going into a public library and miss indexing the books” (Van Rensburg, 2009). Only when useful, relevant content is presented in a logical way, can end users find the information and products for which they are searching.

References

Battelle, J. (2005 ). The birth of Google. Wired, 13.08, Retrieved July 20, 2009, from
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.08/battelle.html?pg=1&topic=battelle&t opic_set=

Taylor, L., & Kerwin, A. (2006, February 27). Media morph: Google death penalty. Advertising Age, 77(9), 51-51. Retrieved July 23, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

Tegtmeier, R. (2009, July, 6). Some misconceptions regarding black hat seo. Searchcowboys.com, Retrieved July 23, 2009, from http://www.searchcowboys.com/guestposts/745

Thurow, S. (2008). Search engine visibility. Berkley, CA: New Riders.

Van Rensburg, W. ( comment, July 14, 2009) in response to Some misconceptions regarding black hat seo.