What is Black Hat SEO?
This is a question that has crossed all of our minds at one point or another. Stumble into a Black Hat discussion on a general internet marketing forum and you are likely left with the impression that we are evil scum of the Earth that is out to destroy the very fabric of society while murdering baby kittens.
The reality however, is far from that. The majority of Black Hat SEO employs the EXACT same strategies and techniques used by any good White Hat marketer, but with a twist. We’re lazy….. So lazy in fact that we like everything to be completely automated. Why go out and hand pick backlinks when you can write a script to do it for you? Why spend weeks perfecting a single page of ad copy when you can write a program to create thousands of variations in a few minutes?
It is inevitable that someone brings up cookie stuffing or cross site scripting. Sure, there are black hats that chose to partake in such activities, but that doesn’t make them black hat activities. The majority of us you will find still have a solid moral compass and don’t cross certain lines.
I suppose my main point here is to point out how silly the distinction between black and white really is. It isn’t as clear cut as the titles imply. Hopefully that leaves you with a little bit to think about.