Definition: Black-Hat SEO

“Black-hat SEO” refers to unethical or manipulative techniques used to improve a website’s search engine ranking that violate the terms of service of search engines. Black-hat SEO practices can include keyword stuffing, cloaking, link spamming, and duplicate content, among others. These techniques may provide a short-term boost in search engine rankings, but they often result in long-term penalties or banishment from search engine results altogether. The use of black-hat SEO can harm a website’s credibility and reputation, and it is generally not recommended as a long-term or sustainable strategy for improving search engine visibility. Search engines continually update their algorithms to identify and penalize black-hat SEO practices, and website owners are encouraged to focus on creating high-quality, relevant, and valuable content and to build a natural, diverse, and high-quality backlink profile to improve search engine rankings and visibility.