Black Hat Tactics on the Rise in the Age of AI
Black Hat tactics never truly disappeared—but it’s no surprise that the same nefarious, scrupleless hackers trying to cheat algorithms are now attempting to game the system through AI. As I’ve always said, there’s no magic pill or “guarantee” to rank #1 or show up in AI-generated search results from ChatGPT or Google AI. Sorry folks—nothing beats hard work and quality content. SEO and AEO have always been a marathon.
Now, Black Hats are experimenting with what’s being called “AI Poisoning” (sounds like something the Evil Queen would cook up for Snow White, right?). Even more surprising, the classic tactic of tiny white text on a white background in a PDF—hidden from human eyes—is being floated as “possibly effective” again. A true vintage move. I doubt these tricks will gain much traction; AI systems will detect them quickly.
I do see potential in AI vs. AI, where businesses use their own AI platforms to mass-produce huge volumes of content and PDFs to rank fast. That could work—up to a point. But if the content is superficial and provides no real value to users, and is produced solely to “trick” AI, then you’re right back to classic Black Hat SEO behavior.
At the end of the day, your content still needs depth, rich information, and Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) oversight. It will be easier than ever to produce content at massive volumes—and that will soon be the standard (kiss your 15-page “brochure sites” goodbye). Websites will evolve into large, information-dense ecosystems, and that’s not a bad thing. It just used to be incredibly hard to achieve.
So as you ramp up your AI initiatives and content development, keep these lessons in mind. As AI systems begin penalizing businesses for superfluous content and Black Hat tactics, you may end up hurting your relevance far more than helping it.
