The term search engine spamming is used to collectively describe a number of questionable methods to attempt to inflate a Web site's search engine ranking. Common spamming methods include cloaking, keyword stuffing, invisible text, mirror pages, Meta tag abuse, link spamming, and use of doorway pages. If the spamming is blatant some search engines might invoke harsh penalties, including removal of URLs from their listings. Therefore, search engine spamming is not recommended.
Search engines have different definitions of spamming and different, more or less effective, methods of detecting it. Since the bulk part of incoming traffic to most Web sites arrives there via search engines, placing oneself on a search engine's blacklist is ill-advised. The potential gains from spamming the Internet's search engines are easily outweighed by the potential damage it inflicts.
