Negative SEO
If you’ve fallen victim to a negative SEO attack, fear not! King Google claims that their superior technology can easily identify these attacks and in many cases, negative SEO could potentially help you. Wrong! Read on…
What is Negative SEO?
Negative SEO is an ‘unethical’ SEO tactic that deploys black-hat, or spammy SEO techniques designed to ‘trick Google’ into thinking a particular website or webpage is participating in an SEO campaign that violates their webmaster guidelines (typically link schemes) and causes an algorithmic or manual action (penalty) from Google.
Who Uses Negative SEO?
Businesses and individuals alike use Negative SEO for a variety of reasons. In my experience, the most most common use of negative SEO is against a competitor, usually a competitor who is performing well in Google.
How to Defend Against Negative SEO
Defending against a Negative SEO attack usually requires the assistance of an expert to first identify the attack and then defend against it. In many cases, Negative SEO attacks go unnoticed until it’s too late.
How Google Handles Negative SEO Attacks
Google claims its superior Googlers and algorithms are more than capable of identifying Negative SEO attacks. Experts in the field know this couldn’t be further from the truth. When it comes to Negative SEO attacks, Google is clueless. Case studies have shown it’s pretty easy to trick the human Googlers as well as the algorithm itself.
When Should I Use Negative SEO?
I rarely recommend using Negative SEO. First and foremost, NEVER use Negative SEO against a competitor or for unscrupulous purposes.
The only time a Negative SEO campaign should be used is defending against defamation. Even then, I recommend trying Reputation SEO™ first and using Negative SEO as a last resort.
Negative SEO Can Backfire
Negative SEO has a very specific process if it’s going to work. Recently, I had a client referred to me who hired an ‘IT Guy’ to do Negative SEO against a highly defamatory website. The Negative SEO campaign was executed poorly and ended up helping the offending website. This resulted in extra work and cost to suppress the content.
If you have unflattering content about you or your business online, find out if Negative SEO or Reputation SEO is right for you. Let’s chat.