The birth of Google’s Penguin algorithm – designed to cut down on link spam – had one rather unfortunate side effect. No, I’m not talking about all the webmasters claiming the algorithm unjustly penalized them. Rather, I’m talking about a new, underhanded tactic all the black hat search engine marketers are practicing.
It’s called Negative SEO. In lieu of properly optimizing their own site, certain individuals in the SEO community have taken to setting up link farms and spam sites designed exclusively to penalize their competitors.
The idea is that their actions will ‘fool’ Google’s algorithms into thinking their target has engaged in manipulative link building techniques.
