SEO has been both a blessing and a curse to many websites over the years since it became an important mechanism in being found on search engines. In the last decade, we’ve also seen the rise of the terms White Hat and Black Hat SEO. The latter has become the definition of links and content with spam, which used to be created deliberately. Along the way, evolution managed to take those links into more ambiguous territory no thanks to businesses hiring SEO experts who were less than honest.
Some businesses may have hired these SEO experts in haste and didn’t know they’d create spam to try and cheat the system. Even if the business found this out and fired that SEO expert years ago, those spammy links may still be out there.
This might become a new problem now that Google is reportedly going more hardcore in weeding out Black Hat SEO links around the net. They’ve already banned any signs of Black Hat SEO practices from their search engines as much as possible. Despite that, some spam still occasionally sneaks through, and Google is sending out warnings to businesses big and small that still have spam hidden around their site.
With small businesses becoming a new target, it could become a major problem when you consider those prior links likely ended up being shared all over social media.
Will Unknowing Black Hat SEO Become a Business Liability?
You can’t blame Google for being more thorough now in Black Hat SEO when most people are very tired of spam. Particularly because those adhering to White Hat SEO sometimes get knocked down on Google due to spam, it could usher in a new era of dominating White Hat practices.
For the small business that unknowingly has spammy links around their site, it could potentially ruin them. Google will send you a warning that you’re in violation of their Black Hat SEO policies if you still have those links around. The negative side is it may take a long time to hunt down all those links, and may require spending money to hire a task force to clean it all up.
That spent money is what a small business needs to survive, so it could be another dark side to Google synonymously helping and hurting businesses. Then again, it may be the price to pay for not paying attention to what an SEO expert is doing on your site. That’s why you should understand everything that’s going on when you hire someone to create SEO.
In the case of those just now discovering Black Hat SEO on their site, you should do everything you can to scope it out and remove it now, because Google isn’t going to let it go. It’s all part of the new challenges Google brings to the net while subsequently making the future elimination of spam perhaps a little brighter.
References:
http://www.brafton.com/news/google-closing-black-hat-seo-practices
http://davidamerland.com/seo-blog/226-google-slaps-down-multi-million-dollar-retail-sites-for-use-of-black-hat-seo.html
