If you’ve ever had doubts about the validity of using black hat SEO tactics, this article is for you. We are going to debunk the myths surrounding negative SEO tactics and show why they are not only valid but necessary for many companies. We are going to talk about how less is more and more is way too much. Let’s look at how you can improve your web presence and take a look at the positives of some of the link building packages on offer.
Let’s start out by talking about everything bad you’ve ever heard about negative SEO tactics. I will list the most common things that people think of when they consider these tactics and then I will show once and for all why these are complete lies and why, as a business owner or marketer, you should be employing these strategies.
Reasons Why You Should Think Twice Before Engaging In Negative SEO Tactics
1. It is illegal in most cases:
This is a biggie. When you search around the internet, you’ll see some very strong opinions on this one but since this is not legal advice, we cannot say definitively whether it is illegal or not. In most countries, engaging in negative SEO tactics is seen as a form of cyber-harassment. Search engines frown on this and therefore it could be considered a criminal activity.
This is not the case in all countries though, there are some countries where negative SEO tactics are not a crime but it’s generally frowned upon by search engines. If you are looking to get away with these tactics and do not want to face any legal backlash, you should ask yourself whether or not your business can afford the potential fines involved if they catch you out.
2. It’s not effective:
This is the biggest fallacy of all. Negative SEO tactics are effective, they just have to be used correctly for them to be effective. When you use negative SEO tactics incorrectly, you are wasting your time and money and creating a negative experience for yourself and your users. However, when you use negative SEO tactics correctly, you are able to achieve a great deal of success.
3. It’s a dirty game:
If this was true, so many companies would not be engaging in negative SEO tactics and they would be earning way more customers than they are doing now. A dirty game? Negative SEO is just not that dirty at all. The vast majority of companies are doing it right and it is a perfectly legitimate tactic to employ with the right set of rules and caveats to follow.
So what can we do to avoid these myths? There is no need to feel uncertain about negative SEO tactics because I am going to show you how every negative SEO tactic can actually work for you.
The Top Negative SEO Tactics That Should Be Used
1. Low Quality Links
The first negative SEO tactic that I want to talk about is the art of creating low quality links. You can use this tactic to devalue your competition and make it a lot harder for them to obtain any long tail traffic from search results. You can get these links from sources such as forums, review sites and low authority directories like blog comment threads.
When you are linking to a site that has bad content, your link is going to have a poor reputation and this is going to hurt the site you are linking too in terms of search engine rankings. You can use SEO techniques like keyword stuffing, cloaking and black hat tactics to create low quality links that are not only out there but create a negative experience for the sites you link to.
2. Negative Backlinks
We learned in the first point that backlinks can be a great way to obtain additional traffic to your website but they are also very powerful in terms of ranking purposes. You can gain backlinks from comment threads, forum discussions, review sites and so on.
Your competitors have no backlink strategy so you are able to use this tactic as a cheap form of advertising. The more links you have pointing at your site, the better off you will be when it comes to search engine rankings.
3. Faux Content
You’ve all heard the saying, content is king. This is something that you should never forget because it is true for any business, big or small. You need to have a solid content strategy in place because this is one of the best long term strategies for ranking on the search engines.
However, you don’t need to use white hat strategies when it comes to content creation because other people aren’t using these techniques. You can create content that mimics your competitors and has very little value behind it. This way you can generate a negative experience for users and link back to your site at the same time.
4. Cloaking
This is something that can be used in a positive way as well as negative. It’s a great tactic for obtaining more traffic from search engines because you are able to get other text from other sources on your page. However, sometimes it is better to choose less rather than more when it comes to cloaking.
You don’t want to be using this strategy for every page on your site because then what would be the point of having your own site? You want to make sure that you are using cloaking in moderation so that you aren’t sending the wrong message to search engines and advertisers up front.
