I have been asking myself this question recently.  I didn’t really know the answer.  Last week I spent a couple days researching the black hat forums to see what it is all about.  I consider myself somewhere in between black hat and white hat.  I like to make money, but I try not to cross “the line”.  As I read through the forums, so many people started out by saying “and I lost my Google Adsense account because…”.  If you are too black hat and you get caught, bad things can happen and you can get banned from Google and other search engines.  I know something is black hat when I get an sick feeling in my stomach when reading about a black hat program or promotional method.

I told a friend about Black Hat SEO.  He did his own research about what Black Hat is all about.  His comment was “I didn’t know there were other people out there just like me”.  And yes, this friend has said those words “and I lost my Google Adsense account because…”.

Here is an example of a black hat promotional method.  You post on craigs list that you have an nice apartment for rent at under the going rate.  This is an apartment you do not even own!  As people respond to your ad via email or telephone, you tell them that first they need to get their credit score.  You give them a link to get a free credit score.  This link contains your affiliate id.  When this person gets their credit score, you get $20.  Somehow they never actually get the apartment.  Hmmmmm.

Ready to find out if you are White Hat or Black Hat?

BlackHatWorld.com