Are you a small business owner working on your digital marketing strategy? Digital marketing is crucial when it comes to growing your business, but knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do.
Too many new marketers and business owners try to take the “easy path” by using tricky black hat SEO techniques. While these might seem effective on the surface, in reality, they might be harming your business!
But what are some common black hat SEO tactics that people use? Keep reading to learn all about these must-avoid SEO techniques.
1. Keyword Stuffing
All new marketers know that keywords are good, right? Good keyword usage allows you to move up the search engine rankings so potential customers can find you with ease!
In that case, the more the merrier, right?
Believe it or not, this isn’t true at all. While you should use keywords strategically in your digital marketing strategy, overusing them can actually hurt your SEO!
So what is keyword stuffing anyway? Keyword stuffing is what happens when you overuse a specific keyword to the point that it’s no longer natural. It’s obvious to readers that you’re trying to attract people with that keyword.
While it’s helpful to use keywords several times throughout your website, try to use them in ways that seem natural. Don’t plug them into paragraphs that they don’t belong in.
It’s also helpful to use variations of your keywords so you can cover more ground with your content.
2. Blog Comment Spamming
Keyword stuffing isn’t the only kind of spam that is considered black hat SEO. You want to avoid comment spamming as well.
Leaving comments on other blog posts is a great way to interact with people and get new eyes on your site. These comments should provide some kind of value to the blog, however, or else you’re damaging your brand by spamming.
You should also pay attention to spam comments on your own page. They may be damaging your SEO because that content counts as content on your page (even though you aren’t the one who created it).
Go and delete spam comments on your new blog posts before they damage your SEO. Remember, not all engagement is good engagement.
3. Low-Quality Content
As a business owner, you’ll be tempted to churn out constant content for your website regardless of its quality. This is a mistake.
Having frequent and consistent blog posts is great for your SEO and for building customer trust. Those posts have to provide value, however, or they’ll actually damage your SEO.
Learn about an SEO company that specializes in professional content generation so you know that the content that you’re posting is high-quality and SEO-friendly.
Avoid Sneaky Black Hat SEO Practices
Black hat SEO might seem like the easy way to boost yourself up search engine rankings, but in reality, you’re doing far more harm than good. Use reliable white had SEO methods instead. They may be slower, but they’ll help your business thrive in the long run.
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