Monday, August 23, 2010

Underhand tricks or clever opportunism?

Using black hat optimization techniques could get your website further up the search engine rankings but at what cost? There is an increasing range of black hat tools at your disposal for achieving better rankings. The trouble with some of these is that they affect the quality of search results negatively by loading pages without useful content. Search engines, for their own survival, need to ensure results are relevant and informative in order to keep users coming back.

 If they discover black hat content, or what is commonly referred to as spamdexing, in any of its many forms, they have the ability to impose full site bans or a range of penalties. Before you go rushing off to employ a search engine optimization company that offers a new route around penalties, consider the inevitable. Sooner or later your site's methods will be discovered, either because search engine users have reported spamdexing or because search engines develop a way to identify the tricks you are using. It's a never-ending cat-and-mouse game. A site ban could affect the reputation of your company not to mention its profitability.

The debate about whether black hat optimization should be seen as a crime or as a legitimate method of enhancing your web presence is irrelevant. Search engines hold all the cards and your rise to number one is likely to be short term. Why take the risk? If you do your research, you will find search engine optimization companies offering advanced techniques that can bring safe and sustainable results.