![\"44](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/44-Black-Hat-SEO-Techniques-That-Will-Tank-Your-Site2-min.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIn the old days of Black Hat SEO, these techniques, tricks, tactics or however you’d like to call them may have worked, until the search engines\u00a0started taking actions and updating algorithms to penalize websites using such Black Hat SEO Techniques. And, as the search engines\u00a0don\u2019t like to let themselves and their users be tricked, they\u00a0took measures to keep the search results\u00a0as clean and accurate as possible.<\/p>\n
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Auditing your site for toxic or black-hat backlinks is still important, but it\u2019s no longer enough on its own. Modern search engines, and especially generative AI systems, evaluate far more than link profiles.<\/p>\n
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Today, visibility is heavily influenced by overall brand sentiment across the web. That means how people talk about your brand in articles, forums, reviews, and social media can directly impact how often, and how favorably, you appear in search and AI-generated answers.<\/p>\n
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A negative or inconsistent online reputation can suppress visibility just as effectively as a toxic backlink profile.<\/p>\n
Because brand perception is now a ranking and visibility factor, it must be actively monitored, not left to chance.<\/p>\n
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This is where the BrandMentions software <\/a><\/strong>ecosystem comes in. As a top social listening and AI visibility platform, it helps you track:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n By continuously monitoring these signals, you can respond quickly, manage perception, and ensure your brand narrative stays accurate, consistent, and visible.<\/p>\n Search and AI systems increasingly rely on:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n In other words, your brand is now treated as an entity<\/strong>, not just a website. If the surrounding narrative is weak or negative, your discoverability suffers.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Using the proper techniques to rank and to get organic traffic can be hard, but it’s the best thing to do. Therefore, try to not fall in the trap of following the next black hat\/shady SEO techniques:<\/p>\n Keyword stuffing is an old technique that had its moment of glory. It was highly popular before the 2000s, until Google started noticing that content with a great keyword density<\/a> isn’t relevant to the user. <\/p>\n www.webopedia.com<\/p><\/div>\n Well, that might happen if you stuff your site with keywords; you and your site will suffer alike.<\/p>\n The story goes on with image alt descriptions that are over-optimized. A little trickier than keyword stuffing, this technique is found by search engine crawlers even though you burden your images with a lousy number of keywords instead of your text (content). Ever if you can\u2019t see them, it doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s not that harmful. If you read #1 and #2 you can see it is easy to get carried away from the right path – white hat technique. Using keyword-rich anchor for internal links is a clear sign of over-optimized website or overly SEOed, and it will look exactly like this unnatural smiley face. You need to keep your site neat and tidy. For example, you are writing an article on your blog about your beautiful trip to Barcelona and want to recommend a tour you sell on your site. The second example from the screenshot below looks like an over-optimized site:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n www.weddingdresstrend.com<\/p><\/div>\n Now you see it\u2019s not a myth anymore that using keyword-rich anchor texts for internal links to over-optimize your website can bring you a \u201cpretty\u201d penalization from Google.<\/p>\n Another \u201cjoy\u201d of the over-optimization game is taking abuse of irrelevant keywords just to rank. Just to make myself clear let\u2019s say you like to play poker, but we\u00a0know you are bluffing, just like your visitors will do when they enter your site, and they will run like bats out of hell. And your CTR will suffer. Michael Panuthos<\/a>, SEO and SEM specialist says that:<\/p>\n Sometimes your SEO specialist is so eager to get you on the first page of Google, he or she will neglect relevancy. If your SEO specialist gets you on the first page of Google for irrelevant keywords then you may not receive traffic. Relevancy is key.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Webmasters find all kinds of scammy ways of ranking. This black hat SEO technique happens when you forcefully place internal links on the homepage for pages like \u201cAbout us\u201d, \u201cContact us\u201d, \u201cProducts\u201d and so on. It’s not only unpractical but also useless because those pages have a lot of traffic as they are, and it’s better to have deep links to strengthen your internal links.<\/p>\n Hiding links and text for the sole purpose of building links comes in different sizes and shapes. Google has discovered all schemes<\/a>: hiding text or links using CSS to position text off-screen, using the same color font as the background, setting font size to 0 or hiding a link to a single character.<\/p>\n You would be surprised, but novices still use this ancient deceiving technique.<\/p>\n Picture taken from http:\/\/cdn.elite-strategies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/blackhat-seo-hidden-or-invisible-text.gif<\/p><\/div>\n <\/p>\n Not all hidden text and links are bad for your site. For example, using a descriptive image alt description, a script for Java or code for Flash files is acceptable. The last two technologies will help improve the experience of your site with the search engines.<\/p>\n Using multiple H1s on a page is a widely spread tactic to influence on-site SEO. Abusing this black hat technique makes your site look stuffed.<\/p>\n Take for example the site below. It exploits the use of headings and keyword \u201cplumber\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Never-the-less, I encourage you to write headlines, but take in mind that you should always have only one H1, and H2, H3, etc. just when it\u2019s necessary.<\/p>\n Copied content is a type of content that appears on more than one site. Also, it might be content stolen from other places (URLs). It is only giving a hard time to search engines to choose from all the duplicate content, and show the correct piece of information – which usually happens, and Google is showing the original content in SERPs. That because it can\u2019t show duplicate content – it\u2019s not relevant to the user. <\/p>\n Content automation means using tools or scripts to generate content automatically and publish it on your site without any effort from your side. The automated content is written with no intent for the user, and doesn\u2019t have any format or style whatsoever, without pictures, HTML headings, paragraph spacing, alignment and so on. <\/p>\n There are plenty of tools to do the dirty work for you. But you’d better think of what the consequences will be before you act. Bait and switch is\u00a0a false way of changing your content just to a get a page to rank. The first step is to write a page for Google with a set of keywords, and after it ranks, the author changes it with another\u00a0project or product. When users enter the site, they see something entirely different. This is indeed a crafty idea, and the person who came up with this technique was creative. This cheesy way of tricking Google might have worked well in the past but now it will get you banned and if you \u201chit the jackpot\u201d you could be subject to a lawsuit. This is another example of a page that used the bait and switch technique: <\/p>\n Bitcoinspot.nl took action and ranked for the keyword \u201cdownload games\u201d, but the site is about Bitcoin.<\/p>\n It is the act of crafting a (manual or automated) way of rewriting content just to escape the \u201dduplicate content\u201d – umbrella and to generate \u201cnew\u201d content to look good in front of the search engines. It\u2019s considered black hat because you don\u2019t bring any value and relevant information for the user. If you discovered something new about a topic you already covered in an article, you could just write the new piece of information as an update. This way you can help that article rank better and give it a boost. <\/p>\n Scraping content is stealing content from other publishers with a little help from scripts and post it on your website. It is an interesting practice because it was the\u00a0subject of some cases regarding breaching copyright of the original site owner. Hatching scraped content is not only forbidden but also illegal<\/a>\u00a0in the United States and other countries. For example, in 2011 in Canada there was a cased called Century 21 Canada Limited Partnership v. Rogers Communications Inc., 2011 BCSC 1196<\/a>\u00a0 which stated that “The prohibited uses expressly include but are not limited to \u201cscreen scraping\u201d, \u201cdatabase scraping\u201d and any other activity intended to collect, store, re-organize, summarize or manipulate any Content (whether via an automatic program or a manual process).” It is against Google Guidelines<\/a>, also. Over the time, thereappeared that sidebar with \u201clatest news\u201d implemented by webmasters, but some of them got carried away and published too much information. You should be careful with how much information you post on other sites so that you won\u2019t upset the big G. This goes both ways. If you are a victim of this act, you can find software to help you discover who is stealing content from you and complaint against the site that has stolen your content.\n
Why Brand Reputation Impacts Rankings and AI Visibility<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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I. WEBSITE OVER-OPTIMIZATION<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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II. CONTENT SCAMS<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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III. LINK MANIPULATION<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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IV. PAID LINKS<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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V. SERP SPAM<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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VI. CROOKED WEBSITES<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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VII. ILLEGAL WAYS TO MAKE MONEY<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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VIII. VICIOUS TACTICS<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/div>\nI. WEBSITE OVER-OPTIMIZATION<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n1. Keyword Stuffing<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nFor example, if you are the manager of a company that sells chips and somebody asks you if you have chocolate chips, I bet you don\u2019t answer to them \u201cWe do have chocolate chips. Our best selling product are the chocolate chips because these chocolate chips have better taste than our simple chips and our customers love chocolate, so chocolate chips will be a better decision. Try chocolate chips.\u201d You sound like a crazy person if you talk like that. I mean, who can actually talk like that? Ever?
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\nRepeatedly using a keyword in an article or a small piece of text – is like giving a definition of a word by using the same word over and over again. It\u2019s not natural and healthy, nor unique. It\u2019s bad user-experience and, worst of all, it will get you penalized by Panda Google Algorithm for low-quality content. It\u2019s better to use expressions and write like you\u2019d be talking to someone because the big G values more the content that is written for people than SERPs. But you already knew that, so why not put it into practice?
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\nWhat do you think about the next page?
\n![\"Keyword-stuffing](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Keyword-stuffing-addictinggames.com_.png\")
\nDoes it look natural to you? I bet that you can find a range of online games on the site, but honestly, you don\u2019t need to write it a thousand times to understand that.
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\nAnd since we\u2019ve talked about Google Panda<\/a> we should see what impact can keyword stuffing can have on several sites. \u00a0The website presented below is one affected by this algorithm:
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Google-Panda-penalty-webopedia-1024x392.png\")
<\/a> <\/div>\n2. Over-Optimized Alt Description<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nLet\u2019s make a thing clear: It is recommended to add images to your articles to make them more approachable. More importantly, you should write alt descriptions to your images, but don\u2019t abuse it.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n3. Commercial Anchor Text on Internal Pages<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n![\"Fake](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Fake-smile-min.jpg\")
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\nRecommended<\/strong>: If you\u2019d like to have an amazing trip to Barcelona<\/a>, you should check out our amazing 6 day trip to Barcelona<\/a> with a free travel insurance.
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\nNot recommended<\/strong>: If you\u2019d like to visit Barcelona, we have a range of tours and activities; just check them all out at Barcelona For You<\/a>.
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\nGoogle has come with a \u201csolution\u201d for those who are looking for the easy way to rank in the top; it\u2019s called penalty. Some sites have qualitative content but don\u2019t rank so well and some sites rank better, but have thin, over-optimized content.
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\nYou might wonder which of the above cases is better. Te professionals think that means unique content written for the user and not for search engines and which has meaningful, relevant information. But don\u2019t take our word for it, look at the examples below to see the rankings. In the screenshot below, you can find a site which provides a good user-experience.<\/p>\n![\"Google](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Google-Penguin-costume-works.com_-1024x334.png\")
\nwww.costume-works.com<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Google](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Google-Pengiun-weddingdresstrend-min-1024x371.png\")
<\/div>\n4. Irrelevant Keywords<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nGaining traffic by using lots of unnecessary keywords to rank won\u2019t work. Cheating, like in every relation, is punished, and Google will take you\/your site down.
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\nI get that you have plenty of topics in your niche, but stay there, don\u2019t jump the garden to your neighbor. The dog will bite you! You might lose users that could have become clients, and they will buy from your competitors. That happened just because you weren\u2019t honest with them.
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<\/div>\n5. Linking Over-Optimization<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/div>\n6. Hidden\/Invisible Text and Links<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"blackhat-seo-hidden-or-invisible-text\"](\"http:\/\/cdn.elite-strategies.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/blackhat-seo-hidden-or-invisible-text.gif\")
<\/div>\n7. HTML Heading Over-Optimizing<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Heading](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Heading-Over-Optimization-Best-plumbers.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/div>\nII. CONTENT SCAMS<\/strong><\/h2>\n
<\/div>\n8. Copied Content<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nOh, the good old days of SEO when copied content wouldn’t damage your site so bad! Nowadays, using this technique will hamper your ranking in a blink of an eye. Besides that, you might put your site at high risk of getting penalized by Google Panda.
\n![\"Google](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Google-Panda-ebay.png\")
\nA safe way that is not considered duplicate content is using citation for the information you gather from external sources.<\/p>\n![\"Share](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Share-content-on-other-sites.png\")
\nBefore you submit your content online and make it public you should check<\/a> it to see if it’s plagiarism free.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n9. Content Automation <\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nMaybe you would think it\u2019s a good idea in the short term because you\u2019ll have a site with a lot of content in no time and effort, but you start to experience significant rank loss, keyword stuffing and worst of all risk of getting blacklisted from the search engine.<\/p>\n
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\nI can tell you a safe way of getting ideas to generate quality content. You can try BrandMentions<\/a> to inspire you to write and generate organic traffic and rank. It is useful and fun to find and search for information or keywords and see what\u2019s trending.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n10. Bait and Switch <\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\nIn 2011, Groupon <\/a>used \u2018\u2019Bait and Switch\u2019 in Search Ads and was accused of running \u201cfalse and misleading business and advertising acts\u201d by a bus tour company in San Francisco. The keyword they used was \u201cincline village snow play area\u201d.
\n![\"Groupon](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Groupon-bait-and-switch.png\")
But when you clicked on the link you would see this on the site:<\/p>\n![\"Groupon](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Groupon-site-1024x762.png\")
<\/p>\n
\n![\"Bait](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Bait-and-switch-download-games-example-min.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/div>\n11. Article Spinning <\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Article](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Article-spinning-min-1024x439.png\")
<\/p>\n <\/div>\n12. Scraped Content <\/strong><\/h3>\n
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\n<\/span><\/p>\n
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\nI\u2019m not giving you ideas, just helping you make a difference between what\u2019s wrong and what\u2019s right and get away from the temptations and the bad guys. And I\u2019m not talking about Google, he\u2019s the good guy. Well, he is good as long as you\u2019ve done nothing to upset him.<\/p>\n <\/div>\n13. Cloaking <\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Cloaking\"](\"http:\/\/cognitiveseo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/Cloaking.jpg\")