The term "search engine spamming" collectively describes a number of questionable methods to inflate a Web page's search engine ranking. Common spamming methods include cloaking, keyword stuffing, invisible text, mirror sites, Meta tag abuse, and use of doorway pages. If the spamming is blatant, some search engines might invoke harsh penalties, including removal of URLs from their listings.

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 not recommended. The potential gains from spamming the Internet's search engines are easily outweighed by the potential damage it inflicts.