Chapter Ten: Tactics to Avoid and Mistakes Not to Make
Third-person rewrite of The Fundamentals of BrandSERPs for Business by Jason Barnard
Why cheating Google always backfires
Jason Barnard emphasises that your Brand SERP is your digital business card—it reflects the world’s perception of your brand. When the Brand SERP is accurate, positive, and aligned with your brand message, it becomes one of your most powerful business assets. However, when the Brand SERP contains irrelevant content or even negative results, the temptation to take shortcuts can be strong.
Shortcuts and cheating tactics—known in SEO as Black Hat—might offer quick results, but they come with serious long-term consequences. Google is constantly monitoring the web and will inevitably detect any manipulation, damaging your credibility permanently. A damaged Brand SERP is difficult, and often impossible, to repair.
Black Hat SEO is a trap
Black Hat tactics aim to exploit loopholes in Google’s algorithms to artificially improve visibility. Jason Barnard warns that while these tactics can work temporarily, they always fail in the long term. Once discovered, Google will penalise your brand and downgrade your Brand SERP—making it harder to earn trust back from both the algorithm and your audience.
With entity-based search in full force, Google remembers your brand identity. This means you can’t simply start over with a new domain. The damage sticks.
Why Black Hat offers rarely work on Brand SERPs
Agencies offering quick-fix Black Hat solutions often promise to bury negative content or boost visibility through artificial means—usually by flooding the web with low-value content. Google sees through these tactics. It will ignore or penalise poor-quality content, irrelevant backlinks, and unnatural volume.
Any agency claiming it can remove or hide negative content quickly using aggressive link-building or paid article placement should raise red flags. These methods often violate Google’s guidelines and put your brand at risk.
The three most harmful Black Hat strategies
- Creating False Understanding: Posting misleading information on authoritative third-party sites to manipulate Google’s perception of your brand.
- Buying Credibility: Purchasing fake reviews or backlinks to appear authoritative.
- Feigning Suitability: Writing content that pretends to meet user needs but offers no real value.
Each of these undermines the core pillars of SEO: understanding, credibility, and suitability. As Jason Barnard explains, shortcuts here destroy trust—and trust is foundational to your Brand SERP.
Common Black Hat techniques to avoid
Private Blog Networks (PBNs)
These are networks of sites created solely to link to a primary domain. Once a popular Black Hat technique, Google now easily identifies and devalues PBNs. Jason Barnard advises steering clear—they are transparent, outdated, and ineffective.
Buying links
Cheap link sellers often place your content on low-quality forums, directories, or PBNs. These links are unnatural and can trigger penalties. Instead of building credibility, they broadcast manipulation.
Content spam
Automatically generated or keyword-stuffed content adds no value to your audience or your Brand SERP. Google’s 2021 spam update now aggressively targets these tactics.
Every action, good or bad, becomes part of your permanent brand identity in Google’s ecosystem. Once flagged, the road back to trust is long and uncertain.
Negative SEO is not a viable strategy
Negative SEO refers to deliberately damaging a competitor’s SERP by creating toxic backlinks, fake reviews, or duplicate content. Jason Barnard is clear—this is unethical, risky, and leaves a permanent digital trail. If discovered, the legal and reputational costs are severe.
Rather than attack competitors, focus on dominating your own Brand SERP. Fill it with authoritative, helpful, and brand-aligned content. That’s the most effective defence.
Legal action is rarely effective in the digital space
The internet moves faster than the legal system. Even when cases are justified, proceedings are slow, expensive, and rarely deliver meaningful outcomes in time. Judges often lack the technical understanding required to resolve digital disputes effectively.
Jason Barnard advises businesses to invest their energy into content creation, positive engagement, and Brand SERP optimisation rather than lawsuits. Outranking a negative result organically is faster and more sustainable than pursuing legal action.
The lasting impact of Brand SERP mistakes
Whether through Black Hat SEO, spam, or legal missteps, every tactic you use becomes part of your brand’s digital history. Google doesn’t forget. Neither does your audience.
Trying to manipulate Google might seem tempting, especially when facing slow progress or bad press. But those who cheat always learn the same lesson: the short-term gains are never worth the long-term damage.
Google’s machine gets smarter every day. The only sustainable way to win is to play by Google’s rules.
Jason Barnard’s closing advice: Treat your Brand SERP with care. It is the most visible expression of your brand. Protect it. Build it. And never, ever try to trick Google.
