Concepts Of White & Black Hat SEO

Author: Mdwe Indore

Search engine optimization or SEO is not at all a new term. It’s an online marketing technique that evolved over many years as search engines like Google became more powerful and trustworthy. Today, it is seen as a vast field and a powerful method to drive targeted traffic to a website. Every big brand and every small business with an online presence wants a piece of the organic search traffic.

Now, before SEO got so technical, it used to be simple. It was all about creating the best and the most relevant content for the search engines to rank around relevant keywords.

The interesting thing is, what mattered in the beginning still matters today: Quality Content. The only thing that has changed or gotten better is how the search engines judge the quality of content.

Great, relevant content happens to be the core focus and the main idea behind "White Hat SEO" — the ethical version of search engine optimization.

As content becomes more and more crucial with each passing day, the importance of white hat SEO grows. If you think you can grab top search engine rankings without investing in good content, especially after the major Google algorithm updates (Panda, Penguin and Hummingbird etc.), think again.

What’s more, by focusing on quality content, you’ll also be able to delve deeper into relevant topics. Showing that you have authority in expert areas, which can have an impact on your ranking position in the big G.

So yes, the only valid way to rank your website higher than your competition (and stay there) is to bet all your money on white hat SEO. And diligently work on creating real value for your target audience.

Google and other major search engines respect and recommend white hat SEO, and will have zero problems giving you your deserved position in the SERPS given that you practice it.

White Hat SEO vs Black Hat SEO

When it comes to SEO, the goal is always to reach and maintain the topmost position in the search engines — regardless of the website’s type/niche. Now, how you implement SEO and what techniques you use makes your approach either "White Hat" or "Black Hat".

Let’s see how these two popular SEO versions vastly differ from each other:

What is White Hat SEO?

Without complicating things, white hat SEO can be explained as a collection of techniques to improve the ranking of a website in the SERPs ethically. It is done without implementing any "eyebrow-raising" practices that generally involve cheating the search engines.

Quality is the key ingredient in a white hat SEO strategy. Right from the type of content you’re publishing to the overall user experience your site has needs to be of high quality.

Here are the factors that you need to implement if you want to make your white hat SEO efforts produce results.

  1. The depth and relevance of your written content
  2. The entertainment and educational value of your visual content
  3. Targeted meta information of your website
  4. Architecture and navigation of your website
  5. Speed and performance of your website

In short, white hat SEO is the clean way to boost search engine rankings since it leverages quality content and aims for user satisfaction on all levels.