Is black hat seo illegal ?

Well it depends what you do, and what you class as black hat. Pretty sure most of what is classed as black hat is legal. At least, anything discussed here is. We're geniuses, not crooks.

Blackhat is really a diverse term. It depends on what you are referring to. If we are to go by what Google want when it comes to ranking a site, we should not build links or pay for links because it's against their rule which you know can not happen with the competition out there, it's just unrealistic. The real blackhat for me comes from manipulating Google to gain more rankings, fake PR and more.

repeat after me

GOOGLE DOES NOT OWN NOR CONTROL THE INTERNET

Everything's legal until you get caught.

Seriously, though, most of it's legal. It depends on what you're doing.

Most of it's not, but then again, it depends on the context, and what you are doing. Most of what we​ do here is a dark shade of greyhat.

If you go hack a website, well.

Originally Posted by andyjean

Is black hat seo illegal ?

IT's frowned upon....

Agreed with partymarty4870 ....

Yeah. It's illegal. What did you thought?
A majority of members of this forum remain underground because they are always under fear of getting caught by police. Some of the mods have been termed 15 years imprisonment for using Black hat seo. If you want white money, then white hat SEO.

On a serious note: Using black hat seo is legal mate, provided you don't have your own definition for it. People sharing ideas and methods on this forum are generally legal only.

Cheers

You might just be carted off for making this thread

The only reason I avoid Scrapebox is because I'm terribly afraid of getting raped in prison.

yes its legal mate and its depends on you what are you doing and what you do with your website.

agree.

Originally Posted by janebrendan

yes its legal mate and its depends on you what are you doing and what you do with your website.

Originally Posted by janebrendan

yes its legal mate and its depends on you what are you doing and what you do with your website.

Yeah Agree With You Janbredan

Originally Posted by arthurcolter

black hat seo strategies are not illegal but unethical.

Its only considered unethical if you allow Google control what standard morals you go by.
Personal I think companies like Google are not ethical for pinching small business.

Yeah, it's legal. Just don't use copyrighted material i.e. images or copy articles word for word.

Don't hack. Don't scam. Don't sell fake handbags etc. Don't defraud. Don't infringe on other's copyright. Don't share anything you don't have rights to.

If you do any of the above don'ts, then don't get caught!

Black Hat = Not really. In some coutries their is civil law regarding some aspects and methods that poople may use in black hat SEO techniques. Anti Spam legislation for instance. But this doesn't apply to every country. The USA is one of the strictest, but their jurusdiction means sweet nothing to people spamming from Eastern Europe where there is no legislation and indeed no law being broken.

If you hack sites, steal ID's pass yourself off as someone else for financial gain then two things...
a) That's against the law whether you do it on the internet or real life. Fraud = Crime just about everywhere no matter what medium you do it on. and....
b) It's not Black Hat SEO. In fact It's not SEO at all - it's just criminal activity on the internet

Black hat SEO by definition has to have an SEO aspect to it. In other words your aim is to optimize your web presence in the search engines.
Spoofing, hacking, libeling, stealing...they have nothing what-so-ever to do with improving a site in the search engines so can't really be "Black Hat SEO" because they aren't SEO at all - they are just "Criminal activities" by any measure or medium you care to use.

Scritty

Kudos to partymarty.

GOOGLE IS JUST A WEBSITE - JUST LIKE YOUR'S IT HAS NO JURUSDICTION/POWER OR AUTHORITY WHAT SO FUCKING EVER.

The ONLY thing Google can effect is whether they decide to rank you on their "big list of sites" or not.
That is the beginning, middle and end of Google.
They are just a privately owned website - no more no less, just like mygardenshed dot com - only bigger and less useful.

Originally Posted by andyjean

Is black hat seo illegal ?

Well I have heard stories of Matt Cutts and his posse dragging IM'ers out of bed in the middle of the night and beating them half to death.

Smart black hat SEO can be considered as white hat SEO

It only depends what you makes with the forum.

Originally Posted by partymarty4870

repeat after me

GOOGLE DOES NOT OWN NOR CONTROL THE INTERNET

LoL You are very true man...