SEO approaches are divided into two namely white hat and black hat SEO. White hatters are known to follow stringent guidelines in driving potential visitors into websites. They also abhor the methods used by black hatters and try to find more ways to avoid problems in searches and page rankings. White hat SEO can be very effective, even if you are not allowed to use some techniques. Here are some more details about the type.
Definition of SEO White Hat
White hat SEO is known as the good or the hero in online marketing. It is also called “the good guy” among webmasters. The individuals who practice white hat methods are penetration testers and ethical hackers who aim to maintain security and protection among IT systems. Ethical hackers are generally computer security experts, who ensure those information systems of different sites and companies are kept safe.
They use testing methods and other penetration practices and drills to keep black hat practitioners away. The professionals may also be called sneakers. Groups of the individuals are referred to as red teams or tiger teams. Security specialists can use different methods to perform various tests, like social engineering tactics, attempts to avoid security and gain entry to protected areas, and the use of hacking equipment and tools. Defensive teams are called blue teams, while red teams are the aggressor teams.
More on SEO
In SEO or search engine optimization, both white hat and black hat have been applied widely. Black hat SEO methods include spamdexing, wherein search results are redirected to different target pages. The approach is highly against the rules and stipulations of search engines. White hat methods strictly follow the rules and guidelines given by search engines to ensure that internet users are driven to the right content and pages that rank high on the search results page. White hats lead to results that you can continue to expect over a long period of time, compared to black hats that only find short-term opportunities.
The Practice
If you are still deciding whether to use black hat or white hat SEO, you have to determine the main functions and goals of your business. What are your plans for the long term? White hat SEO is ideal for businesses and companies who expect to boost their reputation and maintain credibility for the longest period of time. Black hats only wait until search engines discover their methods and eliminate these. Your manipulation tactics may be limited but you get more quality customers and visits by ensuring that your site or page has good and sound content.
You should also incorporate all other important elements when trying white hat SEO. Find out how each approach works for you then determine which ones you should heavily invest. You can rely on other webmasters and website owners to help you find the best white hat SEO tools and methods that will sell your product or service better.
Boosting Reputation
Using white hat SEO provides you the benefit of having a solid reputation in the industry. People will start referring to your brand or company more as synonymous with quality and reliability. You get to gain your market’s trust thereby keeping your company secure for the long term.
What is Black Hat SEO?
SEO approaches have been categorized into either black hats or white hats. White hatters are considered to be the good guys, while black hatters are known to be grabbing temporary opportunities that will ultimately be discovered and disapproved by search engines and halted immediately. A lot of individuals still use black hat SEO for a number of reasons. Find out if you should stay with the good side or take some risks as a black hatter.
Describing the Black Hat
Black hat search engine optimization is described as using techniques that will lead to higher search engine rankings. The manner of achieving such ranking is, however, deemed to be unethical and unacceptable by search engines. Black hat SEO techniques are despised by search engines. Once found, the site or page will automatically be penalized or will suffer visibility problems, thereby rendering it useless for further marketing endeavors.
The Black Hatter
Black hat SEO techniques have a number of characteristics. The first includes the breakage of search engine rules, stipulations, and regulations. Black hat techniques also provide a poor user experience, because of the unapproved means that are incorporated in the methods. Black hatters also provide content that is unethical, both visually and non-visually to search engine human visitors and search engine spiders.
Black hatters used to be legitimate, but they became labeled as the bad guys after a number of webmasters abused the techniques and incorporated a lot of items that only led to irrelevant and useless searches. There was a time when online visitors could not successfully research because of the misleading presentations by black hatters. Short-term gains can still be achieved by black hatters in search engine rankings, but if you want to develop long-term credibility and a solid reputation, you have to follow the guidelines.
Some Black Hat Techniques
Black hat techniques should generally be avoided by webmasters or they risk getting penalized. Keyword stuffing is the most common black hat approach wherein individuals put too many keywords on their page or site, and nothing else. The keywords can boost your search engine ranking temporarily and lead a number of people into the site who happen to type in the main keywords. They, however, immediately get turned off once they browse the page and find nothing else on it.
Invisible text is another method that you should avoid. It involves placing lists of keywords in white text against a white background to draw more search engine spiders. Search engine crawlers nowadays are much smarter and it also takes away more human users from your page. Doorway pages are considered fake pages that users never get to see. The approach is intended to draw more search engine spiders but human visitors cannot see anything useful or relevant once they visit the page.
The Temporary Effects
The use of black hat SEO can be very tempting for some, but you have to understand that the effects are only temporary. The site can rank very high for some time, but immediately get banned. You can also lose your credibility by choosing these types of techniques. Talk to other marketers online and find out about the other white hat methods that offer long-term benefits. Your website can become a solid face in the industry, but it does take some patience and dedication to stay on top of the rankings.