What is Grey Hat SEO?
Grey hat SEO is the combination of SEO methods that align with Google Webmaster Guidelines (white hat SEO) and those that violate them (black hat methods). For example, creating quality content (white hat) and buying backlinks to it (black hat).
Is Grey-Hat SEO Important?
Grey hat SEO is used in many niches these days. However, you should note that it’s risky, and Google may penalize your site for using such tactics.
Although grey hat techniques may give you some quick wins in the short run, you should avoid them if you’re building a business website with a long-term vision.
At the same time, it’s important to understand how grey-hat SEO works so that you can:
- Avoid these practices
- Ensure your SEO contractors aren’t using these tactics on your site
- Detect the grey-hat SEO techniques used by your competition
Grey Hat SEO Tactics to Avoid
Even though black-hat and grey-hat SEO tactics are still widely used, we recommend avoiding them. Here are some activities you should stay away from:
1. Buying Backlinks
Building a robust backlink profile takes time and effort. So it’s easy to get tempted to take shortcuts like buying links.
However, we don’t recommend buying backlinks because:
- It violates Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
- It can result in a penalty from Google.
- Paid links are expensive. According to our recent study, the cost was $360 on average.
Do this instead:
Start guest blogging. You can get high-quality, relevant backlinks at scale with guest blogging. Read our guest blogging guide to learn the process thoroughly.
2. Keyword Stuffing
In the early years of Google, it was easy to rank your web pages by stuffing pages with the same keywords and similar phrases. But Google algorithms have become way smarter, and keyword stuffing doesn’t work anymore.
Besides, keyword stuffing makes your content sound robotic and puts off your readers. It’s a negative user experience and may hurt your site’s ranking.
Do this instead:
Create comprehensive content.
- Write in-depth content: It’ll help you cover the topic thoroughly. And it would organically cover the long-tail keywords or search phrases your audience might be searching for.
- Cover subtopics: Check the common subheadings for the top-ranking content on the same topics and the “people also ask” box in SERPs. Then cover these subtopics in your content.
3. Negative SEO
Negative SEO is when you try to sabotage competing websites, mostly by creating a huge number of irrelevant, spammy links to them.
These days Google is smart enough to detect “negative” links and ignore them. Many SEO specialists even quit disavowing links in Google Search Console.
Do this instead:
Outrank your competitors with great content.
- Match the search intent: Analyze top-ranking pages for the three C’s of search intent — content type, content format, and content angle. Then, match the search intent and create better content than what’s already ranking.
- Get backlinks: Backlinks are one of the top three ranking factors for Google. So you need to build backlinks if you want your pages to rank in SERPs.
4. Spun or Auto-Generated Content
Article spinners create numerous different content pieces from an original article with the help of software.
And although computer-generated and spun content is getting better as AI develops, it still cannot match human writing, and Google can detect it.
Do this instead:
Use the perspective technique.
For instance, you’re writing a blog titled “The Future of Link Building.” Here’s how you can create multiple unique content pieces around the main topic with this tactic.
- Create articles from different perspectives, such as "The Future of Link Building for Small Businesses" or "How AI Will Influence the Future of Link Building."
Of course, it’ll require more effort than spinning articles. But it’s worth it because you can earn quality backlinks by publishing these pieces as guest posts on decent sites.
5. Using PBNs
Private Blog Networks (PBNs) are websites created for the sole purpose of linking out and manipulating search rankings. Here the idea is to build backlinks for your main — or money – site by linking to it from PBNs.
However, it’s also a way to trigger the Google penalty as it can be classified as a link scheme.
Do this instead:
Build quality links.
We have a free video course that will teach you how to do that.
FAQs
Is grey-hat SEO safe?
Grey-hat SEO is risky. You may get some quick wins initially, but your site can get a penalty once Google notices the use of such practices.
Why is it called grey hat?
It’s called grey hat because it’s a combination of black-hat and white-hat SEO tactics.
Is grey-hat SEO still popular?
Yes, grey-hat SEO is still popular (especially in specific niches) because, unfortunately, Google’s algorithms are not perfect. But they’re improving.
