Search engine optimization (SEO) is a long game. Improving your website to rank higher on search engine results pages helps you attract more traffic. Plus, it helps build a trustworthy reputation. But, some people want to take shortcuts by using what’s known as black hat SEO. If this happens, your business could pay the price.
What Is Black Hat SEO?
Black hat SEO is any activity that seeks to increase a website’s ranking and reputation by using methods that violate the terms of service of search engines like Google or Bing.
In the early days of the internet, many marketers used black hat SEO tactics to increase their visibility, attract traffic and build trust. But, as search engines evolved and sought to improve the quality of search results, they imposed penalties on unethical practices.
Now, threat actors have embraced this old-school subterfuge to exploit companies with established reputations and steal from unsuspecting online shoppers.
Why Do People Use Black Hat SEO?
Honest SEO (aka white hat SEO) takes a long time to bear fruit. Once your site ranks high for competitive keywords, you seem like a reliable brand that potential customers will trust. Threat attackers have realized the best way to rank a site quickly is to hijack a website with an already established reputation.
Attackers can clone your website — known as domain spoofing — and then use black hat SEO tactics to drive traffic to their duplicate site. Someone might spoof a website to sell low-quality products to profit from the reputation of a trusted store. They could also use the spoofed domain as part of a phishing sc ..
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