There is little doubt that the net has changed the business world and precipitated the development of a completely new set of trading methods which are now commonly known as e-commerce. At the leading edge of this revolution is the business website which was used firstly to release information on products and services to existing clients. Technological developments, both in website potential and in the financial sector, speedily allowed company websites to be used as a selling method offering instantaneous purchasing opportunities to consumers. The predictable consequence of this, given the intensely competitive nature of the market place, was that each business wanted their site to be found easily and, more importantly, in advance their competitors’ websites by consumers looking to buy their goods or service.

This necessity for prime listing on the search engines’ results pages resulted in the rise of the search engine optimisation (SEO) idea. Since its inception the techniques used in SEO have grown in an attempt to ensure that success in placing a website in a good Search Engine Placement, on the first page of search results is achieved. However, this has not always been done in an ethical way. The search engines have a vested interest in providing their clients (i.e. those doing the searching) with a list of websites which correspond exactly their requirements, based on the keywords used in the search. Therefore, any unethical SEO techniques which compromise this basic requirement are frowned upon by search engines as they can provide search results which do not directly match with their searchers’ needs. The searchers may find this very frustrating and place the blame on the search engine, whose standing would be harmed.

The unethical techniques touched on above have been labelled “Black Hat SEO”. An early instance was ‘keyword stuffing’, also known as ‘spamdexing’. This involved the gratuitous, multiple use of selected keywords, often in isolation and in excessive numbers outside the key text of the website. While these keywords would link the website to the original search, the searcher would be disappointed in the content of the website to which they had been sent. Search engines developed their processes and now downgrade websites where this practice is detected. The use of spurious links to and from other websites was also used by unethical SEO companies to erroneously put websites on the first page of search results.

It can be construed from the above that there is nothing to be gained for nearly all of those involved in the web search process from Black Hat SEO. Only a small number website owners who only need a fleeting presence on the front page of a web search to accomplish their short-term goals will benefit from Black Hat SEO. For the rest of those involved in the search process the incident will not be a pleasant one. Searchers suffer frustration at the presence of websites on the first page of their search which do not correspond their search requirements. The search engine’s reputation of being able to provide pertinent websites is reduced. At the root of the issue is sometimes the Search Engine Optimization Company who uses the Black Hat techniques, but as their methods provide only short-lived success, they will not be able to build up a loyal client base and will forever need to find new ones. This could prove difficult when they are unable to offer the permanent SEO results most businesses require for their Online Marketing strategy.