"Black" SEO: How Bots Are Used for Optimization and Deception

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Google and Yandex have clearly defined the basic philosophy of their search engines: displaying the most relevant and high-quality search results for users. Therefore, they regularly improve the algorithms for ranking sites and advertising on search. And SEO specialists try to adapt to these changes. However, not everyone follows the honest principles of optimizing resources and marketing campaigns.

Today we will talk about Black Hat SEO, or “black” promotion methods, in which not all marketers are embarrassed to actively use bots.

Contents
1. What is Black Hat SEO?
2. Example of deceptive optimization
3. Bot and traffic levels
4. Black hat SEO techniques that use bots
4.1. 1. Click fraud on search
4.2. 2. Link spam
4.3. 3. PF winding
4.4. 4. Spam in comments
4.5. 5. Fake reviews
4.6. 6. Content parsing
5. How to identify “black” promotion methods
6. How to avoid black hat SEO
7. How to block bots

What is Black Hat SEO?​

In short, “black” optimization (negative SEO) is the use of methods for resource promotion that grossly violate the rules of search engines. Attackers use techniques to manipulate search engine algorithms for an “explosive” increase in traffic, false lead generation, building up the link mass, and eliminating competitors.

Yandex and Google have developed their own guidelines with a list of all promotion methods that contradict their terms. Sites or pages that use unfair optimization practices are penalized if indexing bots detect these violations.

An example of deceptive optimization​

Examples of "black" SEO include clicking on search results for queries, placing invisible text on a page, doorways, spamming keywords and comments, adding unrelated keywords to a page, and hacking third-party sites.

Bot and traffic levels​

At the moment, there are four levels of bots, from simple to complex:

• Simple — "sit" on one IP address. Operators use automated scripts to boost traffic. Not able to imitate the behavior of a real user. Do not use browser fingerprints.
• Medium — capable of simulating browsers with the ability to execute JavaScript.
• Complex (hard) — an advanced format of automated script. Such bots are able to imitate the behavior of real users, hack CMS through vulnerabilities of security systems. They are used for spam, writing comments, generating pages for advertising.
• Hardcore — complex bots with functionality taken from average and complex bots. They are able to change IP addresses, use private proxies, and use browser fingerprints. Their visits are indistinguishable from real users.

There are three types of traffic:

• Automatic. Generated by malicious bots. Machine learning and other protection methods may be involved in the process of its detection. Such traffic harms the site where the "black" optimization method is practiced.
• Human. Performed by real users. The overwhelming majority of traffic belongs to this type.
• Verified bot traffic. Comes from search robots, payment systems, etc.

Black hat SEO techniques that use bots​

Dishonest competitors and marketers can use SEO bots to lower or raise the ranking of a resource or advertising campaign, depending on their position.

1. Click fraud on search​

The technique of clicking on search results for key queries is one of the methods of “black” SEO with the aim of artificially increasing the number of clicks on a site for the desired semantics.

In advertising, click fraud is used to deplete a daily budget in the first hour of ads being shown on search so that a competitor can take the ad space at a reduced rate.

The technique is applied using the "surfing" method. In addition to automated scripts, marketers seek help from performers with bux.

Signs: a sharp jump in clicks to the site from search results for keywords, a high bounce rate, low efficiency; depletion of the daily advertising budget in just an hour after the start of impressions.

2. Link spam​

A popular technique of "black" optimization, associated with hacking a site, on which irrelevant links are subsequently placed. Often, attackers promote adult resources or prohibited topics in this way, distorting the original content. It may turn out that the links even go to some Japanese sites (symbolic anchors).

Of course, such SEO spam causes damage, first of all, to reputation and search ranking.

Signs: in the webmaster or the site page checking system, a sharp increase in the number of outgoing links. It is advisable to regularly check it with special programs, such as Xenu, for new pages and outgoing links.

3. PF cheating​

Marketers pump up profiles and artificially generate traffic using bots to boost behavioral factors. Click farms or automated scripts can be used for this. Boosting of indicators is done automatically (completely by bots) or manually (by people).

Bots imitate human behavior: they navigate through website pages, repost, like, and leave comments. The process uses different proxies and IP addresses.

The attack can be carried out in a multi-threaded mode. To do this, the bots are given the order of actions to perform for looping: for example, "click - transition - comment".

Signs: an abnormal increase in the number of automated transitions from social networks (and other channels) with the same time spent on the page and performing the same type of actions.

4. Spam in comments​

This type of spam is easy to spot: a lot of comments appear on the site at once, stuffed with advertising links to other resources. The goal is to get free backlinks. Often this is done manually, but most often with the help of automated tools.

A large number of irrelevant external links on a site can seriously undermine the authority of the resource and thus negatively affect the effectiveness of promotion. This can be easily dealt with: just disable open publication of comments without moderation. You can also add a check of messages for posting links and a captcha against bots.

In fact, spam in comments is considered as low-quality links, which is why PS imposes sanctions on the resource. Even at the dawn of the development of promotion services, open comments were an effective way to build up backlinks. In modern search engine optimization, things are different.

5. Fake reviews​

There are useful bots that process user questions in online chats on websites and in Telegram channels, and there are malicious scripts that generate negative reviews. Generating false reviews primarily affects the brand's reputation and can reduce the influx of new potential customers. If they are posted on a review aggregator, this also entails a decrease in traffic.

For this, bots are used that can fill out forms. The principle of operation is similar to lead bots. Performers from buxes can also be involved for this.

Signs: a drop in rating compared to other competitors in the thematic niche.

6. Content parsing​

If non-unique content is found on the site, the page or the entire resource may be subject to sanctions from search engines. It is not uncommon to encounter a situation where a clone reaches the TOP for key queries and its content is recognized as unique, while the original site is lowered in the search results. Parsing content can cause damage that will affect the entire range of measures to promote the site.

Parsing is often done by automated programs (bots) and is one of the hidden forms of black SEO. The best way to deal with this scourge is to block bot traffic on the site.

How to identify "black" promotion methods​

Analyze statistics in Yandex.Webmaster or Google Webmaster Tools, and also view records in Metrica and Analytics. If you see a decrease in the rating, the site has dropped in queries for which it was in the TOP, and has also begun to rank for irrelevant keywords, select such visits in a separate group.

The following parameters may indicate that you are subject to penalties for black hat SEO:

• Low website ranking and keyword drop.
• Unnatural anchor texts that look like spam or are not related to the topic of the resource.
• Link factor explosion from spam sources.
• A sudden influx of negative reviews, similar in content, from people who were never the target audience or direct clients/customers.
• A sharp increase in new indexed site pages with someone else's content (hacking and a form of SEO spam).
• Non-unique content (when your articles have been parsed).

Not all of the listed parameters will be displayed in analytics tools, and some will not be displayed at all. However, some parameters may accompany each other. For example, if someone copies your content, they may not remove absolute internal links and link to your site.

How to Avoid Black Hat SEO​

The best thing, of course, is to use only white hat methods and strategies for website promotion. What can be done for this:

• Focus on building your brand reputation and building your link building.
• Make sure your site is optimized for mobile devices, pay attention to page loading speed. For this, you can use the Google PageSpeed Insights tool.
• Develop a content strategy and stick to it. Publish interesting and useful content regularly.
• Use social media to build your audience and links to your pages.
• Create content for people, not search engines. But don't forget to optimize it.

However, these methods will not save you from SEO that uses methods beyond your control. For example, actions of dishonest competitors or attacks by malicious botnets. How to fight bots in this case?

How to block bots​

Typical bot activity associated with black hat optimization of a resource may include:

• SEO spam;
• content scraping (parsing), or, simply put, stealing;
• link injection (link spam);
• spam comments, etc.

Using bot blocking software like Botfaqtor's Antibot for Site will eliminate or greatly reduce the chances of getting penalized by search engines for black hat SEO techniques used on you.

Blocking bots helps prevent other forms of cyber attacks such as DDoS attacks, spambots, account theft, click fraud, fake lead generation, etc.

In today's digital landscape, bot blocking is a must-have tool for any business, especially for online stores, large websites, and advertising campaigns.