White Hat SEO Vs Black Hat SEO?
Just
like white hats and black hats to differentiate the “good guys” from
the “bad guys,” “white hat SEO” and “black hat SEO” denote good and bad
SEO practices:
White hat SEO techniques are heroes:
Tactics that work within search engines’ terms of service
to improve a site’s search engine results page (SERP) rankings.
Here are some of the top White Hat SEO tactics you can use to “play by the rules” to boost your website’s presence:
- Quality content
- Content-relevant keywords
- Keyword-rich page titles and metadata
- Lean code/well-structured markup language
- Authoritative inbound links
- Simple website navigation
- Fast page loading times
7 White Hat SEO Techniques
Quality content written
for the benefit of the reader, not the search engine crawler, is the
most crucial element of modern-day SEO. It is the best way to be
rewarded by search engines and how they rank your site or blog. Always
remember that quality content is king!
Content-relevant keywords based on disciplined research around page content is mandatory. Also,
pay attention to keyword usage. Stick to one primary keyword and 2 or 3
secondary/supporting keywords.
Keyword-rich page titles and metadata are also mandatory. It’s easy to overlook or underestimate these areas, but optimization is low-hanging fruit for most sites.
Lean code and semantically structured markup language,
including the use of keyword-rich heading elements on your pages, aid
search engines in finding what they're looking for when crawling your
site.
Authoritative inbound links
that are gained organically versus paid links have become one of the
The most important elements in your SEO efforts. Attaining authoritative
inbound links take time and dedication, but the tremendous impact on
how you rank in SERPs and increased overall site traffic make it well
worth the effort.
Simple website navigation
generally boosts where your site places in organic search rankings. It
also helps visitors find what they need without getting frustrated,
which is a win for potential conversions.
Fast page loading times
is a necessity because, like simple navigation or mobile optimization,
responsive sites don’t frustrate visitors or encourage bounce. From an
SEO, site speed is a search engine ranking signal. Sites that are slow
in responding to visitor requests for whatever reason (large images,
image carousels, etc.) generally rank lower in SERPs because the user
experience is jeopardized. Be mindful of functionality and features and
how they impact load times.
Being familiar with white
hat SEO isn’t enough to keep you from inadvertently crossing into an SEO
grey area or, worse, do something that violates search engine
guidelines — black hat SEO territory.
Black hat SEO techniques are villains:
Tactics that may get a site higher SERP rankings, but are unethical and violate search engine guidelines.
Here are some of the top Black Hat SEO tactics to avoid when boosting your website’s visibility:
- Keyword Stuffing
- Meta Keyword Stuffing
- Link Farming
- Cloaking Your Content
- Publishing Bad Content
5 Black Hat SEO Techniques
Keyword stuffing
— hidden content masked with the use of code but stuffed with keyword
jargon so it's only visible to the search engine crawler — may have
worked in the past, but search algorithms have gotten smarter. Site
owners engaging in this “number one no-no” will be subject to a hefty
fine and/or the site may be blocked by search engine authorities.
Meta keyword stuffing — unnaturally placing keywords
in web page meta tags, page titles, or backlink anchor text — is easy
enough for a trained monkey to conduct, but does not positively impact
your SEO. In fact, it can turn away the search engine crawlers.
Link farming is
the process of gathering a whole slew of unrelated website links that
are typically hidden from actual site visitors. Being listed on such a
page won't get you traffic — in fact, it potentially puts you at risk of
having your site flagged.
Content cloaking
is a lot like electronic bait and switch. Search engine spiders are
shown content that doesn’t actually appear in the user’s browser. This
dual path helps sites rank for irrelevant content and provides unwitting
users with results other than that which they expected. A basic example
would be providing HTML to search engines while showing images or Flash
files to human users — a classic trick of spammers.
Publishing bad content provides no value to visitors and reflects poorly on you. Scraping or
copying content from other sites was once nearly undetectable by search
engines, which made it a bit of a rankings boon. Now, Google and other
search engines have algorithms in place that not only recognize
duplicate content but instantly down-rank sites for duplication or other
low-quality content.
Understanding what’s what when it
comes to SEO best practices is essential to maintain the integrity of
your website, online rankings,
and visibility. For any help
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