In Part One of this series, How to Choose an SEO Consulting Company, I focused on questions to ask that would help you quickly size up a firms’ level of expertise with  “good” SEO practices.

In this article we are going to look at the other side of SEO…the dark side!  Unbeknownst to many entrepreneurs and small business owners there are SEO (search engine optimization)  practices, that if used, will get your website “delisted” from search engines!  These techniques are called “Black Hat SEO” and are considered unethical.  Search engines will spank your (you know what) if your website is “caught” using these tactics.

An ethical SEO firm will not use this approach. 

But if you are not aware of the severe penalties associated with Black Hat SEO, there is nothing to stop an SEO firm from using these tactics on your site…except you! 

What is Black Hat SEO?

Black Hat SEO techniques usually include one or more of the following characteristics:

• Breaks search engine rules and regulations
• Creates a poor user experience because of the black hat SEO techniques utilized on your web site
• Web site content is manipulated so that search engines see something very different that what your human visitors see

Ask These Three Questions to Discover Black Hat SEO!

When choosing an SEO company, you want to be sure and ask the following questions to get a sense of their SEO practices:

1)  Do you show search engines anything different from what a visitor would see?

This practice is actually called “cloaking”.  This simply means that the SEO firm will add technology to your site that lets it feed search engines different information, than what a human visitor sees.  The technology distinguishes between a human visitor and a search engine robot.  It automatically feeds content that has been specifically designed to rank high in search engines.

A knee jerk reaction might be…well that sounds like a brilliant idea. The problem is that it’s a violation of the “Terms of Service” of every major search engine.  And if your site is caught “cloaking” the penalty is very severe…removal from search engines.

So if the company you are talking to says yes and starts to sell you on the benefits of this technique, end the meeting immediately!

2)  Do you use hidden text or hidden links?

Similar to number 1 above, this tactic is designed to show search engines something different than what meets the “human” eye.  Hidden text is simply text that is the same color as the background of a page.  The text is filled with keywords and information specifically designed to increase the ranking of a page.  While a human cannot see the text, search engines can read every bit of it.

Hidden links lead to other web pages that are not designed for the human eye, but for the search engine’s “eye”.  Again, the human eye cannot see the link (they are often sized at one pixel and even reading glasses won’t help with that!), but search engines can read the link and follow it to the associated page.

Both of these tactics are intended to make your page more relevant to search engines rankings.  The problem is that search engines really frown on website content that has been created for their reading pleasure only.  If content is not visible to the human eye, it’s considered an unethical form of search engine optimization.   If your website is caught using these tactics…ouchee it can be removed from search engines.

3)  Has your SEO work ever gotten a site penalized?

This question is a bit of a double edged sword.  In some cases a site may have been penalized either due to a change in the search engine Terms of Service or an oversight of some sort.  As I mentioned the world of search engine marketing is constantly changing, so answering yes to this question, may not automatically knock a company out. 

If a company answers yes, then it’s the when and why of the situation that matters more.  If this occurred a couple of years ago…it may not have much significance.  On the other hand, if this happened last week or a couple of times in the past six months…there is only one thing to do.  End the meeting immediately!

SEO Requires Collaboration

These questions don’t cover all of the Black Hat SEO tactics that can be used.  But if you ask the questions and get evasive answers; ask yourself if this is the kind of firm that you want to partner with.  Effective SEO requires collaboration and a strong level of trust.  Make sure this is someone you want to spend time with.  If not, move on!