I would like to make it clear that I am in no way advocating spamming the search engines or undertaking black-hat methods. I am just letting you know of the reality.
SEO is a very interesting field.
With all ranges from white-hat to black-hat, nearly everyone can argue on the different SEO methods and present a winning case. It is for this reason that every single tactic on SEO forums turns into a huge debate which never seems to reach a conclusion.
There are actually people out there who get their websites to the number 1 placement by conducting black-hat SEO and link spamming. A case of this would be the Pharma industry, where even a day near the top of the search engines can make the webmasters as much as USD 300,000!
That being said, there are some things a lot of people do not know about SEO. We all seem to agree that Google is quick to burn down websites which spam and conduct grey-hat and black-hat SEO methods.
However, the truth is a little different: If you have the sense and experience to be a little careful with your SEO and link building methods, it is normally very difficult for Google to track you down and penalize you.
Websites which get “owned” by Google are literally trying their best to be penalized.
However, that is another topic altogether. Here are 3 pointers about SEO which might actually surprise you:
1. Bad is more effective: Seriously, black and grey-hat tactics are much, much more effective than white-hat tactics. Any experienced SEO can propell a website to the top of the search engines at a fraction of the cost “normal white-hat SEOs” will incur.
There is a reason why there are so many black-hat SEO websites out there: It is effective. Sure, the black-hat educational websites might have a horrible layout because the webmasters dont have the time (or derive monetary value out of them) but the bottom line is that these tactics are effective. A lot of people seem to think that just because the websites look crappy means the techniques over there have no value. This is something which makes me smile.
2. Popular/loud tactics die out soon: Scream out your effective SEO tactics out loud to the public and if you are a famous SEO-related person, your tactics might be short-lived. Websites which boast about their rankings everywhere get their rankings burnt down.
Along the same lines, article and directory submissions are among the least effective SEO tactics out there simply because everyone is using them. How do you create competitive advantage here? By sticking to a method the majority does not know or finds it very difficult to follow.
So contrary to popular belief, do not go with the mainstream tactics because they are mainstream for a reason: Everyone is using them.
3. Link spamming actually works: Believe it or not, link spammers are still out there and are making a killing. Search engines can never stop link spammers as long as links are used to reference and rank content. You would be surprised at how much link spammers make by using automated, crappy scripts which do nothing but spam links (by embeding them in pathetic and meaningless English sentences).
A close look at Pharmacy and Viagra related keywords will show you that the top results change every few hours. Why? Because of the intense competition. My research tells me that the top website for these terms makes millions.
Link spamming techniques are so prevalent that if you own a functional blog, you can witness the link embedded comment messages that you get. Spammers try to place their links everywhere, hoping that even if a few get through, they can make a killing online.
I hope you found this post interesting. If you have a different perspective, or have other nteresting SEO tips etc, be sure to comment!