I just had someone pm me saying black hat is illegal and wanted to address that here. Nothing in normal black hat is illegal. Like i've said before it's really just automating the same things white hat seo's do. There is XSS and such (cross site scripting), but that isn't black hat, that's hacking. Most black hats I know don't condone any illegal activities. The two are completely separate.
The traffic myth: I hear this one all the time. People say black hat domains don't rank well or produce natural search engine traffic. Well, here is my traffic so far this month. edit: digitalpoint sure compresses the heck out of attachments.
Wikipedia's definition of black hat: A black hat is a person who uses their skills with computers and other technological items in a malicious or criminal manner. Black hat techniques are generally techniques we refer to as immoral and breaking the rules. So, why spend all that time and effort gathering knowledge on how to be a dick? I mean, I see you guys saying that black hat works if you are good at it. Well, why not just get good at white hat or other forms of marketing? There is an endless amount of information out there. You can be or do whatever you want. Why spend all that time learning how to do things that hurt other people? Why not play fair? WHY BE A SPAMMING, SNEAKY, SLIMY, CON-ARTISTY, DICK? At the end of the day, it's not about the money. It's not about making a quick buck. It's about paying your dues and building wealth legitimately. It's about good over evil. Have some integrity. Don't sell your soul for a couple bucks. You're better and smarter than that...and that's no myth.
We (you and I and everyone reading this thread) know the difference between right and wrong so, it really doesn't matter who I am referring to. Who's rules? Search engine's rules. I have a feeling you know who I am reffering to and are just playing devils advocate. I make basic assumptions in my posts. I don't have time for playing games with semantics. I understand your points, but I'm not going to break down all of my basic assumptions in further responses. Lets stick to discussing the topics at hand. I'm not starting a fight, it was a general question to all people who just want to be dicks. No one in particular.
Who made the search engines the moral authority or the internet police? I don't remember any democratic process taking place electing them leaders of the internet. I'm actually QUITE good at white hat seo as well. The principals behind black hat are all white. We do it in an automated manor and on a larger scale. Call me a dick all you want, it is quite clear that you do not know the first thing about black hat seo.
I was waiting for you to chime back in. Your foolish response was exactly what I expected. They are not acting as "internet police". You don't have to use their search engine. You are the one choosing to try to get ranked at their site. So, that argument is ridiculous. If you want to do business with certain people, you have to follow certain rules. You don't have to do business with those certain people, but if you do indeed want to - accept and follow the rules. It's that simple. I know a quite a bit about black hat seo. I know that assholes spam my forum about 50-100 times a day (well, before I installed an anti-spam bot script) now I get 50-100 unsuccessful attempts. And I know they spam my topsites and blogs as well. They are the scum of the earth. You know they are. You know how the majority of the people feel about people who use these techniques. It's just sad to me. All of this talent wasted on hurting others for a quick buck. You are smart enough to know that it's wrong. It shows a lot about your character knowing that you still do it. But, it always catches up to people sooner or later. And if what you are doing is not wrong, then let us know of your techniques and I will publicly apologize. We can "vote" on whether we think they are moral or not, since you are so into democracies.
Pfft. Someone needs to put on their "big boy" pants, take a Midol and get over themselves.... Interesting read, 180 - As a Capitalist, and someone who's always tried to stay towards the "lighter" end of the headgear spectrum, I say "more power to you". I'd be curious to know more... Learning is learning, whether or not you agree with the person's style or methods.
I'm just expressing my opinion like you, man. It just so happens that people that use his "methods" hurt other people and I am a victim of his "methods". So, excuse me if I don't sugar coat my responses to someone who prides themselves on stepping on other people to get to where they want to be. The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing. -Albert Einstein Keep on looking on AZ.
He he... I just get on board because, like 1/8, I have come to be amazed at the attitudes towards BH. My thoughts on it as a viable technique didn't enter into it. It's more how - all of a sudden - morality comes into play.. weird... Morality is basically the 'accepted' norms of society. I believe this post has shown there is not an overwhelming majority of society that feels this is bad/wrong/evil.... Ethics? As I have said... unless some one used BH techniques without a client's knowledge, I can't see the ethics entering into it... I can understand you having a beef, owning a forum and all, but BH spam is not all that you deal with... many lurkers sign up and post to simply hock their wares... I consider that Spam as well... but that falls under the discretion of the Mods and Admins on a board by board basis. I can also understand the frustration as an SEO - coming across them in the SERPs on a term we're working.... Is it immoral? unethical? No way...... Pain in the ass? Sure can be.... Are the SEs TOS my moral guidelines for web development? Nope So I am simply sitting on the fence. I wear no hats (it would mess up my hair) - I work in SEO = Search Engine Opportunist My SEO-FU is strong
Sorry but that made no sense. That is like saying one day right will be wrong and wrong will be right.... Wow one day someone is going to let me rob their store and be happy about it... White hat and black hat have always been different. The white hat is natural methods of getting a top ranking while the black hat approach admits that the site is not good enough to rank on its own so we must spam it around. Black hat techniques have never turned white hat. Some 'white hat' may use them but then they are not real WH seo are they? Unfortunately for you I am back. Not quite true. It is just usually to hard to prosecute. If I can prove you have been spamming my site I can get you in trouble. Unfortunately it is very hard to do and a long process. Eight donuts I got a question for you or actually a request. I would like to see a screenshot of your traffic from google for a couple of these domains. And please be honest to these folks. BH is very hard to do in Google. But feel free to prove me wrong - I mean proof not words
Actually it's really easy in google. A couple of us were laughing yesterday because my domains have 4 of the top 10 spots a particular keyword in google. I've provided what I have provided. I'm not going to out my domains on a public forum just to prove a point to you my friend