Your Website Being Used for Black Hat SEO? Here's What Every South African Business Should Know

In South Africa’s fast-growing digital economy, your website is more than just a brochure—it’s the engine of your online brand. But what if it’s being used behind your back for unethical SEO practices like cloaking, link farming, or hidden multisite networks?

Many South African business owners don’t realise their web developers may be engaging in black hat SEO tactics to boost rankings artificially—sometimes across a hidden network of websites. If done without your consent, this could damage your online reputation, get your site penalised by Google, and even erode customer trust.

At Bubble Bekkie Advertising, an international award-winning design and digital marketing agency based in South Africa, we believe in transparency, ethical SEO, and clean website branding. Let’s break down what you need to know—especially if you're unsure who really controls your website.

What Is Black Hat SEO?

Black Hat SEO refers to dishonest tactics used to manipulate search engine rankings. These include:

Cloaking (showing different content to Google than to your visitors)

Keyword stuffing

Hidden links or spammy backlinks

Link farms and paid link schemes

Using multisite networks without transparency

These methods can work short-term, but in the long run, they result in Google penalties, lost rankings, and a serious hit to your credibility.

📚 Source: Google Search Essentials

What Is a Multisite Network?

A multisite setup is when one central installation of a platform like WordPress hosts multiple different websites—each with separate domains but the same backend system.

✅ Ethical Use:

Large businesses with branches in multiple cities (e.g., capetownbusiness.co.za, durbanbranch.co.za) using a single dashboard for easier management.

❌ Unethical Use:

Web designers or agencies secretly linking unrelated clients’ websites together to share traffic, trick Google into thinking there’s higher authority, or manipulate SEO.

If this is done without your consent or any visibility, it's considered unethical—and potentially a black hat SEO tactic.

5 Signs Your Website Is Being Used Unethically

🔒 You don’t have access to your full website backend or hosting.

🧩 Strange links or articles appear on your site without approval.

🤐 Your designer refuses to explain “SEO tricks” or gives vague answers.

🔗 Your site links to random blogs or has unrelated outbound links.

💬 You never asked for SEO, but your rankings are rising in weird ways.

If any of these are true, your site may be part of a hidden network that’s helping someone else rank—at your expense.

Why Ethical SEO & Branding Matter in South Africa

Ethical SEO builds trust with both users and search engines. At Bubble Bekkie Advertising, we ensure every website we build is:

🛡️ Transparent and secure

🇿🇦 Locally branded for the South African market

📲 Mobile-friendly and performance-optimised

✍️ SEO-rich with real content, not trickery

🧑‍🎨 Proudly designed by us—with credits you can choose to keep or remove

✅ Clients can request removal of any analytics, SEO tools, or designer credits at any time.

How We Work: Transparent, Ethical, and 100% Yours

Unlike developers who hide access, use cloned templates, or run shady SEO campaigns, we give you:

Full ownership of your domain and hosting

Direct access to your dashboard and analytics 

A website that’s built for growth, not manipulation

Local SEO strategies with proven long-term results

📍 Based in South Africa | 🌍 Serving ethical businesses worldwide

Real-World Risks of Black Hat SEO

According to a 2023 study by Ahrefs, 70% of websites penalised by Google for black hat SEO saw traffic drop by over 60% in just 48 hours.

Google is smarter than ever. Once it detects cloaking, link schemes, or manipulative multisite tactics, your site could be de-indexed—sometimes without warning.

Get a Website Ethics & SEO Audit Today

If you're unsure what’s really happening behind your site, let us help.

At Bubble Bekkie Advertising, we offer audits to check for:

Cloaking

Suspicious links

Multisite misuse

Dangerous SEO code or hidden redirects

We’ll explain what’s going on in plain English and help you fix it professionally—if needed.

📈 Related Educational Article 

What Every South African Business Must Ask Before Hiring a Web Designer

The Real Cost of Cheap Websites: SEO Traps to Avoid

Is Your Site Being Used for Link Farming Without You Knowing?