Kurt of ChristianSEOGuys.com asked a great question in his blog post yesterday:
If you’re not familiar with the term “black hat” that is the term used to describe search engine optimization techniques which the search engines have deemed to be against their rules. Like the old cowboy movies, “black hat” = bad, “white hat” = good.
So, is going against what Google, Bing and other search engines want you to do sinful? Kurt writes:
Google is not God.
Google says they know where you are and they claim to know what you are thinking. Bing says they can make your decisions for you. They both do have a significant amount of economic and social power, but they aren’t God.
Is black hat SEO illegal?
The simple answer is, “No.” These are rules made up by the search engines for the search engines. It’s not illegal to sell links, stuff keywords, cloak pages, or manipulate the search engines in any way. However, there certainly can be consequences, serious ones, but those consequences are from the search engines not the state authorities. (To be clear, I’m not talking about things like data mining which may be illegal)
Head over to Christian SEO Guys to read the rest of the post, and don’t miss my comment about one SEO technique I think definitely crosses a moral line.
What do you think? Do you think certain SEO techniques are sinful or just a matter or risking the wrath of The Goog?
(To be clear, while we think this question about black hat SEO is worthy of debate, OurChurch.Com does not use any questionable or “black hat” SEO techniques when performing our Christian SEO services. We would never put our clients at risk of being penalized by search engines.)
Co-founder & CEO, OurChurch.Com
Paul has been the CEO of OurChurch.Com since its founding in 1996, combining his passion for faith and technology to lead the organization.
An accomplished writer, Paul has authored over 2,000 articles on faith and technology, featured on platforms like ChurchLeaders.com, The JoyFM, and his personal blog, LiveIntentionally.org.
Beyond his professional achievements, Paul serves as an elder at Journey Community Church and is deeply engaged in his community through his involvement with the Florida Sheriffs Youth Ranch and the Safety Harbor Chamber of Commerce. He is a contributing author of the book Outspoken! Conversations on Church Communication.
26 Comments
I'm Christain so thank you for this post. i've been wondering.
Yeah this is a great niche christian SEO 🙂 I'd say Church seo shuld be more focused on LBM but that's my humble opinino. Yeah I've been curious as to whether or not using SENuke is against God's standards. Gotta clarify my heart/mind. Thanks for just making this discussion
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Great information sharing with us thanks for sharing this.
aywebtech
I'd say Church seo shuld be more focused on LBM but that's my humble opinino.
hese are rules made up by the search engines for the search engines. It’s not illegal to sell links, stuff keywords, cloak pages, or manipulate the search engines in any way
Correct. It isn't illegal. It is, however, against Google's (and Bing's) guidelines. So, while you aren't going to get into legal trouble, you may find yourself penalized or banned from Google and Bing.
Head over to Christian SEO Guys to peruse whatever is left of the post, and don't miss my remark around one SEO strategy I think certainly crosses an ethical line.
Presently i am learning SEO subject. Black SEO is definitely not Sin as stated in the article but following white hat techniques can definitely give you more good results than the black hat can give you. So go for white hat. Interesting post.
Post worth reading…thanks for sharing…
"Avoid spamming and improve your ranking"
“The not God Google” is trying a lot to minimize the impact of the black hat seo techniques on organic search result. We should focus on quality content. Although a nice reference (link building tactics ) wont harm.
Hi, agree with you, but is there any more details of quality content? Since, you know, if we order the contents all by self, that would be a big budge, so is there any way easy and cheaper to get quality contents?