White hat SEO and black hat SEO are two contrasting approaches within search engine optimization (SEO), the practice of improving a website’s visibility and traffic through search engines. Most SEO efforts aim to raise rankings and visibility on the search engine results pages (SERPs), and major categories include directory submission, search engine advertising, ecommerce optimization, and web analytics.
What are the main forms of SEO?
Search engine advertising includes both paid search engine optimization and organic search engine optimization. The most widely used form is PPC, or Pay-Per-Click, which is built around bidding on certain keywords. Those keywords are chosen based on relevancy, search volume, and competition, and they determine the cost per click advertisers will pay.
Directory submissions involve submitting content to web directories in an attempt to attract more visitors. Search engines also track how often a page appears in results and how long it is viewed. Some search engines, such as Yahoo!, have developed their own proprietary algorithms for ranking and displaying web pages.
What is white hat SEO?
White hat SEO, more commonly referred to as organic SEO, is not driven by keywords but by overall content. It tends to draw in more visitors because it does not focus so heavily on keywords or phrases.
SEO experts believe the best possible method of optimization is to get as many relevant links as possible pointing toward your website. If your site is well established and you have high traffic volume, getting many links pointing to your site is not a problem. This is usually accomplished by submitting articles to article directories, creating forum topics, joining various discussion boards, and posting to blogs related to your industry. Doing this builds credibility and your reputation as an expert in your field, and gradually you begin to appear on the first page or at the top of the search results.
What is black hat SEO?
With black hat SEO, or spam SEO, the objective is to trick the search engines into thinking your site is relevant and trustworthy. The best-known methods are link farms and link exchanges.
Link farms are when you buy links from other sites to help boost your own ranking. These sites often have nothing to do with your industry, so they are easy to fool. However, if done incorrectly, link farms can actually hurt your chances of being found on the first page.
Another method used to manipulate search engine results is link trading, where you give up some control over your website so that the owner can promote your company link to others. Although this may improve rankings in specific search term phrases, it will most likely come across as spam to the engines, and they will drop your site off the rankings or charge you a fee to re-list.
Link exchanges are done on a particular search term or for a particular search term. In order to qualify as relevant for this exchange, you must provide quality content that is fresh and not stale.
Which approach should you choose?
Both white hat SEO and black hat SEO have their pros and cons, and there is a possibility that your company website could be hurt by either approach. It is up to you to research the topic more fully and decide which method is best suited for your website, but understanding which methods are which before making your decision is important.
FAQ
What is white hat SEO?
White hat SEO, also called organic SEO, is driven by overall content rather than keywords. It draws in more visitors by building credibility and reputation over time.
What is black hat SEO?
Black hat SEO, or spam SEO, aims to trick search engines into thinking a site is relevant and trustworthy. Common methods include link farms, link exchanges, and link trading.
What risks come with black hat SEO methods?
If done incorrectly, link farms can hurt a site’s chances of appearing on the first page. Link trading can be flagged as spam, leading search engines to drop the site from rankings or charge a re-listing fee.