Long Term Effects of Blackhat SEO

In a previous article we covered if businesses should prepare for the effects of targeted negative
SEO, but never got into the potential long term effects of negative practices.

This article is going to go through the long term effects of using black hat SEO techniques, how
it can affect your business site and prevent you from recovering the SEO of your site.

What is Black hat SEO?

The Reliable SEO Metro defines Negative SEO as “a black hat technique that uses bad text
links with negative connotations linking back to a competitor’s site, linking competitors to link
farms and free-for-all sites, etc.” It can also include hackers or malware that has infiltrated the
site to change or shut it down. When these techniques are used they act as a barrier, harming
the visibility of the site and causing it to be demoted by Google and the SERP (Search Engine
Ranking Positions) to be lowered.

Although in the past this form of SEO would have helped increase the ranking of your site, it
now only serves as a hindrance and prevents the site from gaining positions on a results page.
This was as a direct effect of numerous algorithm changes brought into play by Google, the most
notable of which was the Penguin update of May 2012.

Would using Black Hat SEO provide fast results in half that time?

To put it bluntly the answer is NO! Although it used to create fast results and costs less, it
doesn’t work that way now. Google have put into place a number of tactics to prevent the
unethical practice of Black Hat SEO. The key one of these is the development of a number
of complex algorithms that prevent any kind of black hat SEO from working. This has left a
number of unreliable SEO companies unable to offer their previously exceedingly cheap deals
for places on Google.

What are the long term effects of Black Hat SEO?

What some people don’t know is the continued damaging effects black hat SEO has on a website
even though the program may have been stopped. Each individual link is logged in the back of
the website and gives the site a form of portfolio. This portfolio is vital in influencing where the
site is placed in a search engine. Black hat SEO produces an influx of poor and irreverent links
at once to this portfolio which act as a black marker each time the site is reviewed and can push
it down the rankings. This will continue to act against a website until the offending links are
removed.

What can be done to resolve it?

The long term effects of this are that a large number of the links become irremovable and have
a persistent harmful affect on your SEO. To combat and these issues and recover the site takes
a long time and a considerable amount of effort. Such quick fixes like Google’s disavow tool
shouldn’t be the first port of call. The emphasis should be placed on trying to remove theses links
manually, to learn more about the approach for resolving negative links click here.

Many people go for cheap SEO thinking they are buying a quick and easy way to help their
website, this is not the case and many businesses that go for this option are in fact purchasing
the long term damaging effects of black hat SEO. We here at Red Cow Media provide a cost
effective and long term service that will help get the most out of your website.

For more information or if you’re interested in joining us, visit our website by clicking here

What’s the point of Social media?

Social Media has grown from the heart of the internet over many years and allows people to communicate though what is fast becoming known as the new 'word of mouth'. There are so many different types of social media used in different ways, which are all adapting over time. Not only are social media platforms accessible via your computer, now users are able to access it via anything from a mobile to a tablet or TV, making it even more accessible and prominent. Allowing any user to access social media anywhere and everywhere also means users are updated instantly, in real time, meaning anyone who has a device connected to the internet can access the shared data instantly.

So why is this good for a business?

With the ability for people to access social media everywhere, business should think of this as a prime opportunity to attract new customers. Some businesses find social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter too 'social' 'relaxed' to be implemented into their business strategy and therefore think it is unneeded. This is where they are wrong; social media can provide a massive impact on a business either by creating business or making relationships with other business, and providing information quickly to your audience. Another feature of social media is its almost always completely free, meaning you can get your message across to the target audience for free....how many other marketing platforms do you know that offer that kind of ROI?

Another great benefit of social media for business is it allows information to be spread easily, for example the 'like' button on Facebook means that when a user likes your content, it will show up on their profile and allow all their friends to see it. With an average user having around 300 friends, this makes the reach of social media incredible. This makes more people aware of the subject, and therefore of your brand.

Social media doesn’t just connect clients to a business, but businesses to other businesses. This commonly happens on twitter, what twitter allow users to do is announce or quote something that will appear to anyone who is following the user. If the tweet reaches a business that shares or replies to the tweet this might instigate a relationship between both businesses, or provide a great start to discussions.

Another great example of the uses of social media is video marketing. Creating video content and then just posting them on your site means that the only people who are going to see them are the people who visit the site. Posting them out via social media channels would allow them to be seen by the public and generate a wider audience. From there they can be linked to by other social media services like Facebook or Twitter allowing an even wider audience to see the video, making people aware of what the business does.

What the downsides to social media?

The downside to social media is it needs a constant eye on productivity. This can cause issues for some businesses as they may not have time to handle the interaction with social media to get the most out of it. It doesn’t help that to get the most out of social media requires an audience, and the process of getting people to link or add you is tricky. There are different techniques but almost all of them take time and a lot of attention.

Content has to be provided to make people more interest in your social media message, if no content is given then there isn’t much chance that viewer of the social media will be interested in sharing it. This is another time constraint on businesses.

Conclusion

The reason why businesses should use social media is basically as it allows your business to extend and grow, helping it to move forward and be perceived as a 'modern' business. As we all know, the internet is changing the world and now allows people to communicate with one another when they could be on the opposite side of the world geographically. What this does is allows business to communicate and increase the chance of getting more customers and create relationships with other businesses. Not only does this happen, but if a company has a good social media presence this will also result in the SEO being enhanced.

The reason why business should use social media is basically it allows you to extend and grow your online presence, helping you to move forward and be perceived as modern at the same time. 

Like with most areas of business and productivity, everything takes time and investment, all social media is free but getting the most from it takes a lot of time and attention.

Who are we?

We are Red Cow Media, and online marketing agency that specialise in SEO, WebDesign and Social Media marketing. We provide a social media service which helps enhance your social media presence, getting people to connect and spreading your business message. For more information you can talk to one of our friendly team or visit the website by clicking here. 

Update on Negative SEO Attacks and Google's Disavow Tool.

In the last article when we talked about the effects of Negative SEO, we made a point that there was no real way to prevent or stop link attacks if you were being targeted by negative SEO. We gave a few tricks of the trade to introduce ways to prevent or stem an attack by combating the links directly and releasing great and regularly updated content which would link back to your site. However, having done some further research on negative SEO and with Google taking active steps to combat it, we have been experimenting with the new Disavow Links tool.

On the 16/10/2012 Google announced the arrival of this new tool to assist with the problem of negative SEO. In a nutshell, the disavow tool helps by erasing the connection between the offending website and your own site, allowing poor quality links to be discounted when Google indexes. 

However, Google is not simply offering a quick fix to those wanting to reverse the effects of poor link building practices in the past, as they have made it clear that all possible action needs to be taken before the disavow tool is used. In essence, it is a last resort. The website owner should try and remove the links manually in the first instance, as it has been mentioned that notes are needed when using the disavow tool and evidence of removal attempts must be seen. It is only when Google can see that the account holder is trying to act upon the link removals that it will allow the request for the Disavow tool to be implemented.

At this point in time nobody fully knows the effectiveness of the disavow tool but we recommend that everyone wanting to jump on the band wagon doesn’t at this stage. The potential effects it could have on the removal of links mean that it may well cause damage to your SEO if not used properly, or if you become particularly 'trigger happy' with the tool. For the time being, we would only recommend that you use the tool if:

- You’re a victim of negative SEO and have evidence enough to support this
- You have received a Google Warning for breaching their guidelines
- You have used poor link building practices previously and you have been hit by the Penguin Update

If your website has been affected by one of these scenarios then you may find that using the tool will improve the state of the SEO. But be warned! With it being a new tool, it should be used with caution!

For more information on the Google Disavow Links tool, or alternative ways to remove bad links feel free to get in touch with a member of our team at www.redcowmedia.co.uk

You can also check out our other articles at:

http://redcowmediaseo.blogspot.co.uk/

What do we mean by Make it, Find It, Share it?

What do we mean by Make it, Find It, Share it?

When we say “Make It” we mean the design and the structure of a website. In today’s internet dominated world, this is first thing most customers will see as a reflection of your business. This means your website makes a massive impact on your customers and potential customers, as well as your business itself.

“Make it” also refers to the web development stage of the process. What we do is make the website to the specification agreed with the customer, bearing in mind what is needed to provide the best user experience for potential customers.

Now, it’s all very well and good having a snazzy, all singing all dancing website, but how useful would it be if none of your potential customers could see it? 

This is where “Find it” comes in; allowing the customer, who may be interested in the service to find it. This is done with Search Engine Optimisation to help your website reach a wider audience online. With every business being unique, all elements of the SEO process are included, but with the strategy tailored and custom planned to suit your business.

“Share It”, the last of the three but still incredibly important to your online presence, and increasingly so. The “Share It” element engages your existing and potential customers with your business. This is done via Social Media marketing, using various social media channels that help the customer interact with the services.

This helps expand the audience of your website and helps engage current and potential customers. What all Social Media services should have in order to enhance the ability to influence and engage, is a fully customised page design with valid and helpful information for the customer to see and share.

For more information about Red Cow Media, Click Here