You may have heard of “Black Hat SEO,” a term used to describe dishonest SEO practices involving intentionally deceiving the user and search engine for increased views and a higher ranking on Google. You also might think that no one or no company would actually use those types of tactics. Unfortunately, there have been tales of companies purposefully using Black Hat SEO techniques and the resulting consequences.
The Story
Back in 2011, J.C. Penny, a popular clothing store, used paid linking to increase viewership to their site and rank higher for specific keywords of their products. A New York Times employee, Doug Pierce, discovered that there were an unusual number of websites linking to J.C. Penny, while trying to find out what was happening with the company. The most likely answer was that J.C. Penny’s search engine optimization team bought into an online paid linking service and used it. It seemed like the questionable links were mostly used around the 2010 Christmas season, probably to drive sales.
Results of Black Hat SEO
It’s all about short-term vs. long-term gain with search engine optimization. Using quick-gain tactics like keyword spamming, negative SEO, link manipulation, and others may seem like a good idea for clicks and sales, like in J.C. Penny’s case, but the truth is that you will quickly be found out and will have to backtrack. Google has a system in place to detect these kinds of Black Hat tactics and you will lose your ranking or be kicked out of the index entirely for using them. Many companies say that they would have to completely shut down if they lost their ranking on Google, which is a scary prospect, especially for small or startup companies. However, the best idea is to come by your ranking honestly with real customer acquisition strategies. This approach takes a more long-term view of SEO and creates a more solid foundation for your company.
J.C. Penny Now
After J.C. Penny’s link scheme was publicized, the company promptly fired their SEO firm and promised to remove the suspect links. Their Google rankings decreased after they cleaned up their online presence, but J.C. Penny’s rankings are honest now and the company came back into the public’s good graces. Google is forgiving when it comes to SEO strategies, so if you do ever find yourself using Black Hat SEO techniques, just remember that it took J.C. Penny a long time to be recognized as a reliable company again.
5 Responses
This was a well written and useful post. I liked that you included a genuine example of paid linking and showed how it only helped J.C. Penny briefly in terms of boosting sales. In general, I think a huge takeaway from black-hat SEO strategies could be that they hurt your corporations reputation from a long-term perspective, considering the time it took J.C. Penny to recover from the scandal. Additionally, it negatively impacts your SE ranking regardless of when/if you get caught.
This post is very interesting because it provides a specific example of where black-hat SEO strategies have been used in the real world. I never realized that even a large company like JC Penney was guilty of using these practices to drive traffic to its web page. It definitely makes me wonder what other large companies have used black-hat SEO strategies.
It is surprising that a company as big as JC Penny would do that. I know it was technically a third-party group. But still, it’s strange. Good thing they caught it and are now back in good favor. This a great example of how patience pays, especially in SEO. If you provide good products/services then the clicks will naturally come.
I just wrote about black hat SEO in my latest post it truly is an interesting topic. One notorious example of Black Hat SEO was J.C. Penny’s infamous case in 2011. J.C. Penny, a popular department store in the United States, was found to have used manipulative tactics to rank highly in Google search results for a variety of keywords related to their products.
Thanks for exposing the consequences of Black Hat SEO. These are things we are warned about but we don’t see or notice most of the time. However, I have noticed how J.C. Penny’s popularity has decreased. I was shocked when you said that many companies say they’d have to permanently shut down without their Google ranking. This really showcases the importance of being honest.