Cloaking Websites use the cloaking technique for tricking the users and also the search engine spiders. In this process, two different types of information are delivered. The first one is to the spiders for indexing and the other to the users. For instance, if you clicked on a search result for the query ‘Gold Jewelry’ and it leads you to a spammy movie download page, it is cloaking. Search engine crawlers do not index sites like this. However, at times, they are indexed accidentally. They are removed as soon as they are identified as cloaked sites.
Duplicate Content Taking content from a website and posting it on your website as ‘original’ is called plagiarizing. Google can identify this in no time. As soon as its crawling spiders find duplicate content, it can de-index the site immediately. Many plagiarism detectors can check if the content is copied. Most of them provide the source from which it has been copied. So, it is better not to copy content and create original posts. You can use Copyscape or Grammarly to check your content for plagiarism before posting it on your site.
Keyword Stuffing It is necessary to make sure you are using the right targeted keywords for your website but many tend to have a misconception when it comes to keyword placement. So, they stuff the page with keywords instead of placing them strategically across the content. They do this in hope of generating better rankings. Nevertheless, it will surely backfire. Keyword stuffing can affect readability and can cause Google to penalize the site. So, if a site is stuffing its content with keywords, it can expect a drop in its ranking. Then again, hidden keywords can also be a problem. To avoid disrupting the readability, the website hides excessive keywords from the users. They match the color of the text to the background color of the website. This makes it invisible to the users but it is still visible to the search indexes. The basic idea behind this is while the readers still find the content readable, crawlers find the keywords to rank it. But Google can figure out this black hat SEO technique and penalize the site.
Clickbait Many websites use clickbait titles to obtain more clicks and increase traffic to the website. Clickbait thumbnails and titles create a curiosity in the readers and convince them to click on the link. Nevertheless, when they click on it, they might discover that the content is not even related to the information provided on the website. So, the users exit the page instantly. This increases the bounce rate. So, apart from being penalized by Google, losing viewers can harm the site’s authority. So, create clickbait titles that aren’t fake. It should include relevant information.
Paid Links Some sites pay money for links to get a higher ranking. Most of the time than not, it is clear that the links are paid. Buying links can be advantageous for the website and is easy. When the transaction is complete, there is no need to worry about content quality. Moreover, the anchor text, an important ranking factor is also selected according to the preference of the customer. These two reasons are enough for manipulating search engine ranking. This is the reason the SEO technique is taken to be black hat. Instead of buying links, build quality links. Backlinking is one of the most efficacious SEO techniques. But it is always important to follow white hat link building techniques.