Alarm bells went off when a copywriting agency asked me to write a testimonial about MyPillow, a product known for buying their reviews. Black hat copywriting is everywhere, and is meant to manipulate consumers (and swing search engines). Here’s why I left the job the moment I realized their game.

Black fedora hat, isolated on white with clipping path

What Is Black Hat Copywriting?

White, gray, and black hat are cybersecurity terms applied to writing.

Black hat copywriting has three intentional goals:

1. Misleading customers,
2. Misdirecting search engines,
3. Damaging competitors

Companies hire black hat writers when they want unfair market advantages. In extreme cases, companies know they’re selling dangerous or untested products or scams. Often times the writers they hire don’t.

For example, writing a bad review for a client’s competitor, or creating copy that sells unverified steroid supplements will need black hat writers: ethical (‘white hat’) writers won’t do it.

If a company asks you to write a review for a product you’ve never seen, that’s black hat.

Customer satisfaction isn’t the goal: manipulation is key for black hat writing to work as the hiring company desires.

How to Spot Basic Black Hat Techniques

Anything that feels like it manipulates the reader (or the search engine), is likely black hat.

Research your client, their requests, and the product (or service) in question.

A client once asked me to write guides for a ‘dating website they use personally,’ but when I did some research, the website had been deregistered years ago. It didn’t exist. They wanted the copy for something else entirely, apparently. That’s the type of red flag to look for.

Black hat can include hiring companies that want to:

    Force Higher Google Rankings
    Do Intentional Competitor Damage
    Do Keyword Manipulation
    Gather Fake Product Reviews
    Use Multilevel Marketing
    Promote Untested or Recalled Products
    Buy Followers or Likes

Writers aren’t always told that they’re working on black hat.

You’re just told to ‘rewrite this page,’ or ‘write about this product or keyword’ with no context. Jobs seem standard if you’re inexperienced, but eventually, you’ll recognize those questions from a client that don’t feel right.

Black hat copywriting is deliberately unethical, and can be illegal. Companies use these shady writing agencies to create an unfair advantage for themselves through copywriting that lies to readers or misleads a search engine.

Black Hat Advertising

The agency in question found me on an ethical copywriting job board. Black hat agencies can advertise anywhere, and their ads don’t make the fact obvious. Ads often just say: Writers Wanted.

Look into prospective clients, their company history, and their website claims. Websites attribute biographies in their ‘about’ page; most black hat agencies will use fake or very generic information here.

If you can find real previous writers through sites like LinkedIn, ask about their experience with the agency in question. If you hunt and cannot find these previous writers, and the agency cannot tell you about their writers, they are more than likely to be black hat agencies.

Use a Reverse Image Search on their staff photos, and see if you get results for stock photographs. If yes, that yells black hat.

Agencies often advertise on forums and job boards where the intent appears clear. But this agency in question had their advertising tracking to sites like BlackHatWorld and WarriorForum, known to be an advertising hub for Hustler’s University: a school that teaches black hat copywriters.

Beware of SEO

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is real and ethical, but beware of any optimization that manipulates or outright lie. When something feels like an infomercial pyramid or forced advantage, think twice.

‘Content rewrites’ means you’re supposed to write content that’s exactly like the example, but looks original. It’s black hat, because it restructures someone else’s (high-ranked) work to boost something else.

The act of ‘Keyword stuffing’ can force search engines to see one company’s page, but ignore another. See this explanation of black hat practices – Spam policies for Google web search https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies

‘Rewrites’ can ask for content that’s written as deliberately close to the example, so that rival companies take advantage of good content that wasn’t originally theirs. Headlines will be copied, but in-between content is made just a little different.

‘Links’ are used to manipulate. Let’s say that this bold part here goes to Amazon: it doesn’t go anywhere, but you won’t know it, and I could have copied anything in there. Even a virus. That’s how black hat works.

‘Reviews’ are a whole different business: good reviews for one company, or bad reviews for another. Both are black hat, unless you’ve tried the product or service.

Where Black Hat Goes

Black hat copywriting can end up anywhere on the internet.

A client could translate your vitamin pill review into French, and you’d never know (even with tools like Copyscape). Another team of writers could change some details, and the entire post becomes one that sells a dangerous supplement instead of the vitamin you thought you were writing about: ‘fake’ reviews can be dangerous reviews.

Worst case scenarios, but believe me, it’s possible.

Black hat writing can even be responsible for spam and phishing emails: yes, someone is out there writing chain letters that promise you ‘HUGE FOREX RETURNS’, (FOREX = foreign exchange). Yes, that’s a black hat agency.

When people talk about ‘sharing email lists’ or ‘buying followers’, it means they sell real user information – or create and sell vast amounts of fake profiles.

These are also black hat tricks: sharing personal information like customer lists is unethical (and illegal), and most websites prohibit buying likes or followers in their Terms of Service.

What Black Hat Does

Black hat manipulates computers and customers alike. Black hat copywriting also ends up manipulating writers, because they are often desperate enough to continue writing it. There’s a bigger picture, too: it harms brands and industries.

Once posts or domains show black hat techniques, search engines bring in downranking penalties. Social media reputation scores  can even backfire and damage your own name.

Protect the world against black hat: always remain ethical.

Keeping Clean

I’ve always remained an ethical writer. That’s why I’m still writing this.

What do you do when a client reveals itself to be black hat?  Refuse the job, and report the customer to industry and national authorities.

Google has forms to report ‘fake’ pages or bad listings. US-trading businesses are accountable to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Serious, ethical concerns can require law enforcement channels, like the FBI.

There are many black hat job offers out there, but ethical choices are the right way to go.

There are (always) better clients for you to find. There’s no good reason to get stuck writing black hat copy, when other, better jobs exist.

Bio: Alex J. Coyne is a gonzo journalist, writer, and proofreader. His features have been published in a wide array of international publications: Caribbean Compass, Bridge Canada, People Magazine, and Writers Write.