How Does The Concept Of Black Hat Search Engine Marketing Slot Into The Whole Online Promotion Industry

There is little doubt that the internet has revolutionised the business world and produced the development of a totally new set of trading systems which are now commonly known as e-commerce. At the start of this development is the business website which was used in the first instance to give out information on products and services to existing clients. Computer developments, both in website capability and in the financial sector, soon allowed company websites to be used as a selling option providing instant purchasing opportunities to consumers. The inevitable consequence of this, given the intensely competitive nature of the market place, was that every business wanted their site to be found easily and, more importantly, in advance their competitors’ websites by consumers looking to buy their goods or service.

This need for prime positioning on the search engines’ results pages led to the rise of the search engine optimisation (SEO) idea. Since its inception the techniques used in SEO have developed in an attempt to make sure that success in placing a website in the prime Search Engine Placement, on the first page of search results is attained. However, this has not always been carried out in an ethical way. The search engines have a vested interest in giving their clients (i.e. those doing the searching) with a list of websites which match exactly their requirements, based on the keywords used in the search. Therefore, any unethical SEO methods which compromise this basic necessity are frowned upon by search engines as they can give search results which do not directly meet their searchers’ needs. The searchers may find this very irritating and place the blame on the search engine, whose status would be harmed.

The unethical techniques detailed above have been labelled “Black Hat SEO”. An early case was ‘keyword stuffing’, also known as ‘spamdexing’. This involved the gratuitous, multiple use of certain keywords, often in isolation and in excessive numbers outside the key text of the website. While these keywords would link the website to the original search, the searcher would be disgruntled with the content of the website to which they had been pushed. Search engines enhanced their systems and now downgrade websites where this practice is detected. The use of false links to and from other websites was also used by unethical SEO firms to erroneously place websites on the first page of search results.

It can be construed from the above that there is nothing to be gained for the majority of those concerned with the web search process from Black Hat SEO. Only a small number website owners who only need a temporary presence on the front page of a web search to realise their short-term objectives will benefit from Black Hat SEO. For the rest of those involved in the search process the experience will not be a good one. Searchers suffer frustration at the presence of websites on the first page of their search which do not match their search request. The search engine’s name of being able to provide appropriate websites is compromised. At the root of the issue is sometimes the Search Engine Optimisation Company who uses the Black Hat techniques, but as their methods provide only short-lived success, they will not be able to develop a loyal client base and will always need to find new ones. This could prove hard when they are unable to offer the permanent SEO results most companies want for their Online Marketing strategy.