White Hat SEO vs. Black Hat SEO
by: Lana Cartwright
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Word Count: 455
The goal of any search engine optimization (SEO) service is improved search engine placement for a website or blog, which in turn should generate more visits (hits). However, a constant worry to most online businesses is the confusion over the questionable techniques used by many SEO firms. There has been incessant talk of Black and White hat SEO practices – something we hope to demystify. The debate on the merits of White Hat and Black Hat SEO practices becomes increasingly significant as SEO becomes a near vital tool in the success and survival achieved by websites.
The White hat techniques are called so, because they adhere to ethical practices which follow the general guidelines of search engines. White hat SEO are approved methods, which search engines support positively. Alternatively, black hat methodologies are generally short term tactics employed by web developers to trick search engine crawlers (spiders). The numerous “illegal” methods have a single goal - to make crawlers believe things that are not actually true of a website. The short term gains of these tactics must be weighed against the penalties that search engines continuously dole out to websites that employ them. In a worst case scenario, which may spell disaster for an e-commerce website, search engines have been known to black-list first and subsequently ban complete websites for black hat techniques used by their SEO management companies.
A fundamental difference exists in the underlying principles of White hat and black hat SEO on carrying out effective search engine optimization. A white hat firm has the outlook that long term results of ‘play nice’ tactics, such as building site popularity, are essential to the optimization procedure. In contrast, a black hat SEO firm stresses on a quick boost to search engine rankings by compromising the readability and coherence of content on a managed website in order to push for higher place on the search engine.
Here is a list of terms (and their descriptions) commonly used by black hat SEO firms. Let this be a rough guideline to help select a company that does not put your business at risk.
1. Keyword stuffing – this commonly exploited technique adds large numbers of irrelevant keywords and phrases to web pages
2. Duplicate sites – some SEO firms create a duplicate site or web page from the original in the hope of it outranking the other
3. Hidden text – the use of font color that blends into the background
4. Doorway pages - unethical backdoor ‘cloaking’ practice that results in black-listing
Choose an experienced SEO management company that can provide effective results which will not, above all, compromise the integrity of your company and jeopardize your earnings.
About the Author
Convonix Inc. is a search engine optimization firm providing organic SEO services to help you improve search engine rankings and pay per click campaign management services that help you get the most traffic at the least cost resulting in improved ROI.
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