Have you ever thought a "black hat" SEO tactic would fail, only for it to actually prove effective?

[lissa889]

What "black hat" SEO tactic did you once think would fail but actually ended up working? And how long did it last before it stopped being effective?

 

[Okkotsu Yuta]

Expired domain 301 redirects were the one that shocked me. I figured Google's toxic-link detection would sniff out that sketchy past faster than a background check catchin an ex-con at a job interview, but a clean-lookin expired domain w/ decent old backlinks passed juice for like 8-10 months before Google's spam update finally showed up n put the whole scheme in link-buildin jail, longer runway than I ever expected for somethin that risky.

 

[Jakha]

some tactics will have short term results but long term results will depend on whether the strategy offers any real value the search engines change all the time therefore short term successful tactics may become risky tactics.

 

[Mia Digital Expert]

Yes, I’ve had that happen. Sometimes a tactic looks questionable at first but still produces results for a period of time. The difficult part is knowing whether it’s actually sustainable or just benefiting from a temporary gap. I think tracking the results over several updates gives a much clearer picture.

 

[SEO Sparton]

Aggressive link building seemed to work well for a time but proved to be inconsistent.

Over time, it turned out to be less successful as Google got better at recognizing bad patterns.

 

[lastflowerortge]

I’ve seen a few risky tactics work well initially but most don’t stay effective for long Curious what has actually held up long term for others

 

[SEO JOKER]

One tactic I did not expect to work was using aggressive expired domain redirects. Surprisingly, it gave the site a noticeable ranking boost. The results were strong at first and came pretty quickly. However, the effect only lasted for a few months. Eventually, Google caught on and the redirects lost most of their value.

 

[doodlepilot]

What "black hat" SEO tactic did you once think would fail but actually ended up working? And how long did it last before it stopped being effective?

In fact many techniques were seemed too mchh stupid to work but when the rankings changed they did. The irony is that they would works just long enough for you to think you had beaten google.

 

[InfinityPeace]

One tactic I did not expect to work was using aggressive expired domain redirects. Surprisingly, it gave the site a noticeable ranking boost. The results were strong at first and came pretty quickly. However, the effect only lasted for a few months. Eventually, Google caught on and the redirects lost most of their value.

Actually, a redirect or parasite page method "that worked for months" IS a successful BH method. Once your testing shows it to be effective for X months before Google detects it, bake it into the cake by cycling a similar page the same way for X -1 months, then rinse and re-do. One key to using black hat nowadays is to have an exit plan or recycle process scheduled into each tactic. The goal is not to permanently beat Google, but to structure things so by the time it's catching up, you've already switched to something else.

 

[bestseoinmyhouse]

So many times I play "by the book" and do everything "white hat" working lots of hours: no spam, no toxic links, good content... and still get penalized.

On the other hand I've made a few crappy sites with spammy links that I haven't touched for years and they perform so good I feel bad for my competition.

 

[jennykumar]

expired domain redirects no more works or gives ranking effect. neither backlinks. gone are those days.
but some new black hat tricks do work now. talking that in public is to be avoided.

 

[Steptoe]

What "black hat" SEO tactic did you once think would fail but actually ended up working? And how long did it last before it stopped being effective?

I don't think anyone ever goes into BH thinking it's a long term thing. If they do then they soon realise the opposite. Limited lifespans of properties/parasites/redirects are something you need to factor in from the beginning of your endeavours, and just keep on building.

 

[KingNeanderthal]

expired domain 301s did the same thing to me years back, worked lovely for maybe 6 months then just evaporated. so i know that feeling well

but the one i genuinely thought was stupid and would never work was not pointing anything at the money site at all. build a buffer page, blast that instead, let the juice trickle up. first time someone explained it to me i thought it was a waste of good links, why would you water down your own links on purpose

been doing it about 10 years now and its the only thing on my list that never stopped working. survived every update since then. and i reckon thats exactly why it lasted.. it was never leaning on a loophole in the first place, its just how link equity moves anyway. everything that dies is the stuff exploiting some gap google hadnt closed yet, this wasnt that

still use expired domaisn but as buffers now, not 301s. actually mostly fresh brandale names these days, for the same money you get 3-4 of them and no history to worry about