Depositioning, or negative SEO – what is it and what are the risks?

What is depositioning?

Depositioning is a deliberate act aimed at lowering a website's ranking in search engine results pages (SERPs). It is also known as negative SEO. It involves intentionally manipulating the variables that influence a website's ranking. Depositioning, as the name "negative SEO" suggests, is unacceptable and penalized by search engines. It is classified as an illegal practice, known as Black Hat SEO.

This technique is the opposite and antithesis of SEO, which aims to raise a website's ranking in search results. It should be done through natural and legal means, classified as White Hat SEO.

Depositioning - what actions does it consist of?

Depositioning is carried out by entities that want to harm competing websites. Through unlawful practices, they try to lower the positions of other websites. Depositioning is carried out, among other things, through:

Content theft. Some websites steal content from others. They slightly modify it and publish it or duplicate it verbatim, i.e., post it without any changes. This can negatively impact the site that originally published it, as the search engine will have difficulty determining who owns it - and will lower the ranking of one of the sites.

False negative reviews and the use of black PR against the site.

Reporting websites. Someone may report our website for verification, e.g., on charges of publishing illegal content or using prohibited practices. Even if we do not engage in such practices (because we should not), it can cause us trouble. Of course, reporting a website based on actual illegal procedures is appropriate, but if someone does it solely out of "malice" - it can cause us unwanted harm.

Creating low-quality backlinks to the site. Spamming our site with bad backlinks can send a signal to the search engine that the site is untrustworthy and of poor quality.

DDoS attack. This is a so-called distributed denial of service attack. Its purpose is to disrupt network services. It can result in a slowdown or temporary unavailability of the website, which negatively affects its visibility.

Malware. A particularly dirty trick. It involves deliberately infecting the site with a virus, which can result in sending a signal to the search engine. In such a situation, the search engine, seeing that the site contains malware, lowers its position or imposes a ban.

On-site and off-site depositioning

Depositioning can be carried out directly on a given website. In this case, we speak of on-site depositioning. It includes practices such as content manipulation and site spamming.

The second path of negative SEO is off-site depositioning. It includes activities not directly related to the site, such as posting false negative reviews and black PR or reporting the site.

Depositioning and Google penalties

As you might expect, negative SEO is penalized by Google. The search engine can, for example, lower the ranking of a site that engages in negative SEO. In Google Search Console, we may receive a warning about practicing non-compliant activities.

Additionally, the search engine applies two types of penalties: a filter and a ban. Generally speaking, a filter most often results in a lower position in SERPs, while a ban results in the removal of the site from the Google index. These penalties are reversible, but the process is tedious and requires a significant amount of work.

Summing up…

In summary, depositioning is an illegal practice and is strongly discouraged. We recommend using White Hat SEO techniques, building links naturally, and creating honest content to gain authority!

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