14 - The Colors of SEO
When talking about Search Engine Optimization or SEO, it would be impossible not to come across the “colors” of SEO. Thus, readers will be confronted with White-Hat SEO and Black-Hat SEO. Gray-Hat SEO has also come into the picture because of the difficulty of determining whether one particular SEO practice strictly falls in one category or the other.
White-Hat SEO
White-Hat SEO is equivalent to ethical SEO. The intention in choosing this optimization strategy is establishing a site for long-term purposes. It adheres to the usage of tactics that are in agreement with how traffic is naturally built. It considers how human audience goes about their online search and adjusts actions to address such considerations.
Search engines have specific guidelines in determining search rankings. Sites employing White-Hat SEO strategy are known to comply with such guidelines as they seek for the desired high-ranking. Rankings obtained through White-Hat SEO are said to be organic in nature.
White-Hat SEO Techniques
The foundation of every site that seeks longevity in terms of user loyalty is quality content. Many have sought to substitute content containing substance with content made up of a merry mix-up of keywords and unrelated texts and failed miserably in their efforts. Users need to be tricked in visiting a site only once to decide never to visit the site again.
When conducting a search, users would like to have real answers and not a pile of advertisements telling them to buy something. Many searches will conclude in actual purchases of offered products and services but reliable information is always a pre-requisite to buying. Information provided for free is better appreciated when it has substance, relevance, and originality.
Another often used White-Hat SEO strategy is the use of relevant keywords. Searches are done by keying in keywords and not paragraphs or whole articles. It is important therefore to find the most popular, the most suitable, and the most competitive. Keywords need not be limited to single words since phrases or groups of words are commonly used by searchers.
The benefits of having the right keyword or keywords can be maximized by knowing where to place them. They are best found in the title, Meta keywords, Meta description, and the heading elements. It cannot be overemphasized that the right keywords should be found in the right content. This means using the keywords in a related content.
Backlinking makes it possible to increase the popularity of a website through bookmarking and sharing. This is almost an automatic result for exceptionally crafted content. Most people would like to share what they found to be good reading to their friends, family, and even work associates if articles are work-related.
Internal Linking on the other hand, allows sites to boost their popularity by allowing linking to another page of the site. Search engines view this move positively because of the presumption of inter-relatedness of site contents. This technique reinforces the offering of a site as a cohesive and comprehensive source of information.
Inbound and Reciprocal Links are beneficial if they are coming from sites that are highly-regarded by search engines. Links from banned sites or sites regarded as providing poor-quality content are not useful and can even be detrimental to a site. The power of association comes into play in this strategy because of the common belief hat like entities tend to stick together. It would be best therefore to be identified in the company of reliable sites.
Filling in the details of tags also add to the semblance of cohesiveness that is greatly favored by search engines. Each page should also be provided titles and Meta data so as to provide a suitable description of page content. Readers will then find it easier to determine the suitability of an offered article to their needs.
Black-Hat SEO
As opposed to White-Hat SEO that promotes the ethical way of going about getting the desired ranking, Black-Hat SEO uses a form or forms of trickery that could bypass the set guidelines of legitimate search engines. In simple terms, Black-Hat SEO is related to using illegitimate tactics that cannot be considered in accordance with fair play. These tactics are generally frowned upon by the industry and sites that use them can be heavily penalized for its use.
Sites that have been identified to have used Black-Hat SEO to gain high-ranking are known to drop from their enviable positions as fast as they gained it. Those who have been found out early enough do not even manage to experience the promised instantaneous results. Black-Hat SEO practitioners may be able to hide their intentions for a time but will never be able to do so forever.
Black-Hat SEO Techniques
The most commonly used way of tricking readers and search engines is through keyword stuffing. This strategy entails using the targeted keyword phrase as many times as possible in a specific content which wouldn’t be so bad if the whole article made any sense at all. As Black-Hat SEO practitioners would have it, readers will not be given valuable information but instead be fed with garbage of unrelated words.
The use of hidden text is also commonly abused by Black-Hat SEO practitioners. This is achieved in hiding spam text by using the same color as the background. Many webmasters persist on trying to get around the prohibition for this practice with the creation of an image file having the same color as the text.
Nothing can be more frustrating for a searcher than to find a site that offers content that is entirely different from that which was presented to search engines. This Black-Hat SEO tactic is known as Cloaking. Search engines offer their listings and rankings based on what was presented to them. The difference in contents is usually discovered upon the visit of human users.
The use of Doorway Pages is another way of tricking users to visit a site. The tactic makes use of a page or pages containing targeted keywords or keyword phrases minus the relevant information it should come with. This method is usually resorted to simply to facilitate visit to the site with the hope that its real contents would interest the visitors. This practice is highly risky for sites that have genuine content pages since being found out could result to having the whole site penalized regardless of legitimate rankings that have been previously attained. Redirecting can also be used as a Black-Hat SEO tactic to complement the Doorway Passage Strategy. It essentially brings visitors to another page having a different content.
Search engines especially favor unique contents and have no special love for duplicated sites and contents to attain high ranking. This strategy became popular with the advent of Affiliate Programs. Even sites that have been changed just enough to avoid detection are soon found out especially when competitors report such practice. The practice of reporting competitors can in itself be a Black-Hat SEO practice if the reports are totally unfounded and only aim to have the competing site banned. A legitimate report however, is to be expected especially from sites that do their best to compete fairly.
Interlinking makes it possible for sites to build links from their multiple websites thereby giving a semblance of popularity. This is highly misleading because the incoming links would make it appear that other sites are seeking to gain association when the simple truth is that these other sites actually belong to the same owner. This Black-Hat SEO practice can be difficult to detect since ownership of individual sites is not always evident.
Gray-Hat SEO
Sometimes, it can be difficult to differentiate between White-Hat SEO and Black-Hat SEO practices. This simply means that some strategies can be viewed as legitimate or illegitimate depending on how it is used. The gray area between these two constitutes what we call as Gray-Hat SEO.
Using Gray-Hat SEO carries its risks because of the very big possibility that it will be construed as a Black-Hat SEO tactic especially by search engines. These practices can also be reported by competitors if not automatically detected by search engines. Webmasters are therefore highly encouraged to resort to tactics that are unquestionably legitimate to avoid any inconvenience to the site.
Gray-Hat SEO Techniques
Cloaking is said to have a reasonable side to it which is the need to limit divulging of certain information to certain groups of people. This necessitates providing different information to search engines which are for public consumption from that which is presented to target readers. Even with a “legitimate” reason, sites cannot dictate on search engines and would have to seek their approval to determine the acceptability of the proposed reason.
The use of duplicate content is sought to be legitimized specifically when the content is placed on a site which serves as an index of articles for a given subject matter. Other than that, duplicate contents are highly discouraged. Duplicate content is sought to be eliminated so as to avoid having the same sites occupy the top positions.
Purchasing links on websites can both be seen as legitimate and illegitimate practice. When it is done as a form of advertising, it is considered acceptable. When used for the sole purpose of increasing link popularity, paid links are seen as an abuse. The primary aim of buying links is to tap on possible additional traffic with the accompanying popularity treated merely as incidental to the original purpose.
Choosing the Strategy
White-Hat SEO practices are able to provide long term results even if it would take a longer time to achieve them. Black-Hat SEO techniques can provide instant gratification which is at best temporary and at worst could result to penalization for the site. The choice ultimately depends on the objective of the site.
When choosing the most suitable SEO option for a site, it is always the safest bet to follow guidelines as set by search engines. This eliminates the possibility of wasted efforts when penalties are levied on offending sites. Site owners should try to understand how specific actions can affect their sites instead of fully depending on SEO companies to decide for them.
