Technical Definition
Negative SEO is attempting to harm a competitor's rankings through malicious tactics. Examples: building spammy links to their site, scraping and duplicating their content, fake negative reviews. Google claims algorithms handle most negative SEO. Disavow tool and monitoring help protect against it. Less effective than often feared.
Simple Explanation (ELI13)
Negative SEO is trying to hurt a competitor by doing bad SEO to them, like pointing spammy links at their site. It's unethical and Google says their systems usually handle it automatically. If you're worried about it, monitor your backlinks and use the disavow tool if needed.
Related Terms
Disavow Tool, Toxic Links, Competition, Black Hat
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