Whatever the business, there is usually some sort of dark underbelly, and in search engine optimization, it's called “black hat” SEO. Black hat practices can be used by a site either to boost its own rankings or to bury a competing site in the dark abyss of search results. (You wonder if the latter form should be called "black black hat" SEO.) Forbes.com featured an article delving into this threat - The Saboteurs Of Search . The article goes through 7 ways your site can be sabotaged, namely:
- Google Bowling
- Tattling
- Google Insulation
- Copyright Takedown Notices
- Copied Content
- Denial of Service
- Click Fraud
This article has proven to be timely, and industry reaction has been rampant. Read through some of the response on searchengineland’s blog.
Fortunately, there are certain things that you can do in order to protect yourself. According to sitepronews
The key to protection from XSS attacks is in the proper configuration of all of the applications and tools that comprise your on-line enterprise. These apps must be synced up to work together while, at the same time, developing protection against XSS attacks.
This configuring of applications is done at the host level and should include a detailed analysis of potential XSS entry points within the site's design and reconfiguration to fit the server security already in place.
One thing is thankfully certain: search engines such as Google are getting more and more black hat savvy. Your SEM partner should be able to give you a leg up in the battle against black hat sabotage.
Further reading--
From Whoast, why you should avoid black hat techniques yourself.
A glossary of black hat SEO terms from George Ajazi.
