Categories
Search Engine Optimization

White Hat SEO

The term “white hat SEO” refers to SEO tactics that are in line with the terms and conditions of the major search engines, including Google.

White hat SEO is the opposite of Black Hat SEO. Generally, white hat SEO refers to any practice that improves your search rankings on a search engine results page (SERP) while maintaining the integrity of your website and staying within the search engines’ terms of service. These tactics stay within the bounds as defined by Google. Examples of white hat SEO include:

  • Offering quality content and services
  • Fast site loading times and mobile-friendliness
  • Using descriptive, keyword-rich meta tags
  • Making your site easy to navigate

Examples of black hat SEO, by contrast, include purchasing links or using deceptive cloaking techniques. Any tactics that are considered deceitful or harmful for consumers would qualify as black hat. Black hat tactics are extremely risky and, as Google’s algorithms evolve, less and less likely to work.

Why Are White Hat SEO Techniques Important?

Failure to engage only in White Hat SEO practices can get your site banned from Google and other search engines.

As the number one search engine, Google is visited by billions of people per day, and each visit presents the potential for your site to be discovered by a new user.

Google is an undeniably powerful source of traffic to your website, and being banned can result in a drastic drop in website traffic and even business. Consider all the work that goes into your website and then think about what it would be like to be banned from the internet’s most commonly used search engine. What’s worse, once you’re banned from Google, there is no guarantee that they will ever re-list you. A lifetime ban from Google would have tremendous consequences.

Why risk it? Check out a complete description of Google-approved SEO techniques at Webmaster Guidelines. Google’s Webmaster resources are the go-to place to learn Google white hat SEO practices.

Should You Implement White Hat SEO Methods?

Definitely! Implementing White Hat SEO practices is the best way to create an ethical, sustainably successful website and business.

Here are some of the steps you should follow to make sure your SEO methods are strictly white hat.

Offer Quality Content and Services

Create high-quality content that meets your visitors’ needs and helps solve their problems. Use SEO keyword research tools to discover the most relevant keywords that your site content should be optimized for.

Then focus on using those keywords in great content, such as how-to articles and videos, that match the intent of the keyword and your end user.

Use Descriptive, Keyword-Rich Meta Tags

Follow best practices when creating meta descriptions for each page on your website to help search engines and users discover your content.

Make Your Site Easy to Navigate

Be mindful when organizing your site’s Information Architecture. Sites that are easy for users to get around tend to perform better in organic search results too.

 

Categories
Search Engine Optimization

Benefits Of Organic SEO

Right now you are probably thinking, “okay so businesses are engaging in organic SEO, but what are the benefits and is it worth it?”. I don’t even have to know what industry your business is in to say, yes, absolutely it is worth it. I also don’t expect you to take my word for it, so let me explain why I know organic SEO is worth engaging in.

Increasing Visibility

Sure, television commercials and radio ads are still being used today, and they are still viable marketing mediums. As of December 2018, there were 4.1 billion internet users in the world. With that statistic at hand, it would be difficult to argue that the internet is quickly becoming the top marketing medium available. By increasing visibility for your website, you are putting yourself in the best position to increase qualified leads. This will allow your business to gain an advantage on the competition without an online presence and will even the playing field against the competition who do have an online presence.

Enhancing Brand Awareness

Enhancing brand awareness means that users are becoming increasingly familiar with your business and/or services over time. Building brand awareness will increase the likelihood that users who are seeking products or services your business offers, will remember and visit your site. The more frequently a user sees your brand, the better the chance of acquiring their business becomes.

Increased Value Over Time

With paid ads, your rankings on SERPs will cease to exist once you stop paying. With organic SEO, the keywords you start to rank for will remain and can possibly increase with maintenance and adjustments over time. If the content you produce provides value and drives traffic over time, the more likely it is that Google will increase your positioning on SERPs.

Far Less Expensive

It doesn’t matter what kind of digital marketing strategy your business is involved in, saturation among industries will always be an obstacle impeding success. Having to compete against huge marketing budgets no longer has to play a factor in the ability to achieve success. You know what I find great about organic SEO? It is the most level playing field related to marketing and anybody can perform it! Paid ads quickly disqualifies the smaller businesses by corporations who are able to outbid them. With organic SEO, even the smallest business can compete with the fortune 500 companies through strategic organic SEO campaigns.

Categories Of Organic SEO Techniques

Techniques and methods related to performing organic SEO can be divided into 3 categories:

  • White Hat SEO

The category deemed as “white hat SEO” refers to the techniques and methods that are widely accepted and match the terms and conditions set by Google and other major search engines. These techniques that currently fall under the white hat SEO standard are very rarely adjusted and are considered the safest and most compliant form of organic SEO practices. Here is a list of broad guidelines to follow to ensure you are meeting white hat SEO standards:

-Original and information-rich content generation

-Alt text and Meta-descriptions void of keyword stuffing

-Fast website loading with easy user navigation

  • Grey Hat SEO

Grey hat SEO techniques and methods are a little tricky to categorize because well, they’re in the grey. There’s no doubt that performing grey hat SEO techniques are riskier than white hat SEO, but I wouldn’t categorize them as black hat SEO either. This is because they balance between what is acceptable in regards to the terms and conditions of Google and other major search engines. These methods are risky because some methods often fall between what is acceptable and what is not. If you do perform grey hat SEO techniques, you must consistently check to see if Google has deemed them acceptable or not. Here are some of the most common grey hat SEO techniques used today:

-Purchasing & acquiring old domains

-Duplicating content (using content spinning tools)

-Purchasing links

-Automating social media

  • Black Hat SEO

After reading white hat and grey hat SEO techniques and methods, it should be pretty apparent as to the dangers of black hat SEO techniques. These techniques strictly violate the terms and conditions set by Google and major search engines. Engaging in black hat SEO can result in your website being banned from search engine results. To ensure that your organic SEO strategy does utilize any black hat SEO techniques, review this list of banned practices:

-Automating content

-Keyword stuffing in content

-False reporting of competitors

-Purchasing links

-Spinning content

-Link farms

-Creating domains or subdomains with duplicate content

 

There are a litany of methods and strategies used when performing organic SEO, but overall, it is the optimization of the website build, original content generation, and the dissemination of the content throughout the web.