What is Black Hat SEO?

Black Hat SEO is the direct opposite of White Hat SEO. In Black Hat, the concept is to get great results, period, at all costs. This often includes unethical tactics that Google later picks up, which, in turn, get your site banned from search results. Not only could you (more like would you) get blacklisted from appearing in Google search results, but you will very likely suffer from very low conversion rates. Conversion rates are the rate at which visitors are converted into potential paying customers. And that is usually done by the website itself or by having the customer call to speak to a person.

If a Black Hat SEO company “cheats” to get you listed on Google, it usually means that when a potential customer visits your website, they don’t find the information they are looking for, so they bail and go to your competitors. If your website is designed to do its job, the client will likely stick around a little longer.

It is often better to have no SEO than to have a Black Hat SEO company represent you and your business.

There are actually three types of SEO companies to avoid.

1. The Promise the Moon (and get no results) company – This company will very often promise you everything, promise first page, and #1 results, and they will look you straight in the eyes and promise it. But when push comes to shove, they can’t live up to that promise, and you see no results. Not only is your ranking or placement on Google not improving, but you are not getting any conversions. It is sad that many SEO companies in the Fredericksburg Area fall into this category. They will take the money and not do the work. How sad is that?
2. The Black Hat Company – I pretty much already talked about this company; they are the ones who will do all the wrong things to get you a better placement on Google, which can result in Google blacklisting your website. But what does blacklisting actually mean? On Google, they will remove your website entirely from their results, and you will not appear for 6 months. But you just don’t automatically appear. You have to plead your case and prove that you changed your ways. Then they will place you again on their search results, of course, at the bottom of the pile. There is no method beyond waiting it out to get back on “Google’s good side”.
3. The Absolutely Inept Company – This company really tries to deliver results, but they just can’t get there. They use outdated, ineffective strategies to get people to visit your website. Generally, they aren’t malicious; they are just not properly trained or skilled in the work that they are doing. In the end, you will not get the results you want.