Some online entrepreneurs break the rules (or bend them) in order to get better search engine rankings. They use “black hat” SEO strategies in order to rank strongly for their preferred keywords. Black hat SEO techniques typically don’t fit search engine guidelines! If you’re interested in breaking or bending the rules, too, you’ll benefit from understanding the advantages and risks of the latest black hat SEO techniques.

These techniques are made to get the most from search engines. The SEO processes that we’re going to discuss today aren’t designed to appeal to a human audience.

If black hat techniques didn’t work at least some of the time, no one would bother with them. They are used because they sometimes allow online entrepreneurs to get better rankings… without putting in the amount of time and energy that it would take to get comparable rankings without breaking the rules.

Now, let’s share the newest black hat SEO techniques and activities, along with their pros and cons. Weigh the benefits and pitfalls and then do what’s right for you.

Rank Higher With Keyword Stacking

In terms of black hat SEO, this technique may actually fall into the gray area. It’s somewhere between black and white, so it may be a good tactic to try if you’re new to black hat and want to ease yourself into it! Also, it’s different than keyword stuffing, which is a black hat technique that’s been around for a long time.

If you want to rank well, consider keyword stacking, which consists of adding low-volume (this means they don’t get searched for a lot, but still have power to drive traffic) or long-tail keywords to your content. Choose a few keyword phrases which work well for your niche and then stack them in order to add more SEO value to your content. For example, if you’re selling organic skin care products in New York City (as well as online), don’t use competitive keywords like, “skin care”, which tons of websites are trying to rank for.

Instead, stack by choosing a much longer keyword phrase, such as “organic skin care products in New York City”. Get more specific and use more words. Use this technique in moderation as Google doesn’t like overuse of keywords which deprive users of accessing organic and meaningful content. If Google or another search engine feels that your usage of keywords is excessive, whether they are stacked or stuffed, you may get a penalty.

Get Sneaky With Cloaking

If you’re ready to go for a deeper shade of black, consider cloaking. When you cloak, you’ll be offering content to search engine “spiders’ which differs from what is provided to a user’s browser. Cloaking is performed by providing content which is based on Internet Protocol addresses (also known as IP addresses). It may also be done by offering content based on User-agent HTTP headers of users who request pages.

This deceptive black hat technique comes with risks. Search engines are not in favor of cloaking and, if your cloaking comes to light, you may expect penalties (the worst of which will be having your website stricken from SERPs). Execs from Google have remarked that the search engine will eventually detect all forms of cloaking. It’s safe to say that it’s not any different from Bing, Yahoo or other search engines in terms of detecting this black hat tactic or any other. Google may be the powerhouse, but they are all actively trying to penalize black hat tactics.

Cloaking, like most black hat SEO processes, is something that some people get away with sometimes, if not usually forever.

Hide Your Links and Texts

The last ultra-modern black hat method that we’re going to talk about today is hiding your links and texts, or using tiny text which is really hard to see. A lot of online entrepreneurs choose to make some text a similar color to its Web page backgrounds. Some black hat SEO users may insert pictures that disappear into same-shade backgrounds, or format text which may be traced visually as links.

Google’s have gotten wise to this trick and Google will issue penalties if it find text which measures smaller than eleven in font size. Keep this in mind as you mull over the advantages and hazards of hiding links and texts. Also, Google is able to detect when text is hidden by being placed against a background of the same color, so you may get busted and get a penalty.

Experts who don black hats regularly recommend hiding a link by formatting it (do it via CSS), so that it looks just like text. The formatting should remove the standard blue “link” color, as well as the line underneath the link. Your link should have the same size, font and color as the rest of the text on your website. Typically, Google won’t penalize online entrepreneurs for hiding links, if the hidden links “contribute to a better user experience”.

Are These Tactics Smart Options?

White hat is better. You may boost your rankings with white hat techniques and, when you do, you wont need to worry about Google penalties or punishment from other search engines. However, black hat is appropriate for those who want good rankings and prefer to take shortcuts, even when there is a level of risk.