What Is Negative SEO?
(AND SHOULD YOU WORRY ABOUT IT?)
Let’s start with the obvious: most people haven’t heard of negative SEO, and if they have, they usually think it’s a myth or an excuse used by underperforming marketers.
But make no mistake: negative SEO is real, and it’s as unethical as it is effective.
Negative SEO refers to deliberate attempts to harm a website’s visibility in search engines. It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s a tactic, albeit a shady one, that exploits the same search engine rules honest SEOs follow, but with a twist.
These tactics fall under what’s known as Black Hat SEO, a term worth understanding before we go any further:
Black Hat SEO refers to shady, manipulative tactics used to deceive search engines, such toxic backlinks, keyword stuffing, hijacking someone else’s traffic, etc. They might work short-term, but they’re a fast track to penalties or long-term damage.
What Does Negative SEO Look Like?
Here’s the bad news: negative SEO often appears to be regular SEO, except it’s designed to trigger penalties rather than rankings. Obvious signs include:
Spammy backlinks: Hundreds or thousands of links from irrelevant, low-quality, or toxic sites. Think adult content, casino sites, or link farms.
Keyword stuffing via cloned pages: Someone duplicates your content and floods it with nonsense keywords.
Fake reviews and reputation attacks: Targeted 1-star review bombs designed to hurt trust signals.
High bounce rates via bot traffic: Fake traffic can make engagement metrics plummet.
De-indexing efforts: Malicious actors may even try to get your site deindexed by filing fake DMCA takedowns.
Why Would Anyone Do This?
Sometimes it’s competitors playing dirty. Sometimes it’s disgruntled ex-employees or freelancers with too much time on their hands. And sometimes, it’s the result of cheap link-building packages from sketchy vendors who hurt others just by association.
The barrier to entry for launching a negative SEO attack is, unfortunately, low. $25 and a Fiverr account can do a lot of damage if you’re not monitoring your site closely.
What Happens If You’re Targeted?
Your rankings might drop. Your site traffic might nosedive. But the scariest part? You might not even notice until it’s too late, because it can look like algorithm volatility or your own missteps.
That’s why it’s critical to be proactive. Use tools like Google Search Console, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to monitor your backlink profile. Look for sudden spikes in links, big shifts in referring domains, or keyword drops that don’t make sense.
What You Can Do About It
Google says it’s pretty good at ignoring these types of attacks—and to its credit, that’s often true. But “often” doesn’t mean “always.” You still need to be vigilant.
Here’s what you can do:
Regularly audit your backlinks.
If you see something suspicious, investigate. A few spammy links? Normal. Thousands overnight? Probably not.
Use the Disavow Tool (carefully).
If you’ve been hit, this is your insurance policy. Disavowing lets Google know which links not to trust, but do your research before using it. Please!
Monitor your site for duplicates.
Use tools like Copyscape or Siteliner to find unauthorized duplicates of your site.
Set up alerts.
Ahrefs and other tools let you create alerts for new backlinks, so you’ll know when things go off the rails.
Keep documentation.
If you need to escalate the issue (to a host, registrar, or even Google), evidence matters.
Final Thoughts
Negative SEO isn’t something to obsess over, but it is something to prepare for. Think of it like cybersecurity: You don’t need to panic daily about being hacked, but you do install antivirus software, use strong passwords, and lock your doors.
Good SEO isn’t just about growth, it’s about protection, too.
Not sure if your site’s traffic drop is just an algorithm update, or something more sinister?
Let’s take a look together.