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 very often includes unethical tactics that are later picked up by Google, which in turn, gets your site banned from appearing on search results listings. Not only could you (more like would you) get blacklisted from appearing in Google search results, you will very likely suffer from very low conversion rates. Conversion rates are the process of converting that visitor into a potential paying customer. And that is usually done by the website itself or getting the customer to call to speak to a person.

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

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 does your ranking or placement on Google not more, 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 already, they are the company that will do all the wrong things to get you better placement on Google, resulting in Google blacklisting your website. But what does blacklisting actually mean? In the world of Google, they will remove your website entirely from their results, and you will not appear for a period of six 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 get you the results, but they just can’t get there. They try old and 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.

So how long does it take?
That is a really great question and to be 100% honest, it can vary depending on the website and the product and the market for that product. Let’s say you are selling real estate. That is likely one of the most difficult markets to get into in regards to SEO. There are so many people selling real estate and the competition for keywords is a dog-eat-dog realm, but not impossible. But if you are marketing a one-of-a-kind widget, then you can likely place really well on Google really quickly. But on average you should see results in a month. Now, these results may not be #1 in that month, in fact, that is going to be unlikely. It takes time to get from page 4 to page 1. Some weeks will be big movers and other weeks not so much. It depends on what part of the strategy the SEO company is currently employing. Also keep in mind that though Google is constantly indexing the web and updating their SERPs (Search Engine Results Page), all the work that your SEO company did this week may only move you to one or two spots. Sometimes it can be slow and there isn’t much anyone can do about it.

Think of it this way, there are 20 websites in front of you, your SEO has to beat each one, and sometimes that can be difficult, depending on a ton of factors.

Ultimately looking for a company that will work with you and educates you along the way. If you are a blogger or you change your website content often, this company should also be training you on how to help yourself as well. SWS fits that bill and you should give us a call today at 540-479-6350