Search Engine Optimization Basics – Lesson 7

December 5th, 2009 |

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In the last post we talked about effectively using SEO on your website to reach your target market. In this post we are going to talk about the difference between black and white hat search engine optimization.

There are so many methods available when it comes to search engine optimization that webmasters have actually categorized them in to two types, white hat SEO and black hat SEO.

There are certain SEO tactics are accepted and those that are not accepted by popular search engines when it comes to optimizing your website and getting free traffic from them.

There is white hat SEO and it best described as methods that follow the guidelines and stipulations set by the search engines.

Search Engine Optimization Basics - Lesson 7

Black hat SEO is best described as approaches that go against the guidelines and stipulations set by the search engines and that they disapprove of.

There is an ongoing battle between individuals who use white hat and black hat SEO. Black hat SEO may not be what you can immediately consider as negative ethically. The fact is search engines may be manipulated by black hat practitioners, and according to them the approaches they use are highly acceptable and their sole intent is boosting site rankings.

Black hatters also say that there is no good or bad in trying to achieve the same goal of making their site relevant and ranked high. The benefits can extend to the users as they seek for the most useful information. Some big search engines may allow a number of websites to function opposite to the stated rules, but is it really worth the risk?

Cloaking is one of the allowed black hat methods that a lot of webmasters use. A cloaking policy may be enforced by big search engines, but still needs updating to fully become consistent. The cloaking method is accepted by the search engines, since it does improve user searches instead of provide them with just any kind of result. Cloaking cannot immediately be referred to as a negative influence, considering that it aids searchers in getting the information and websites that they need.

There are a number of methods that you should avoid if you want to rank high and get on search engines’ good side. Invisible text should be avoided. Do not place light yellow or white text against a white background. Engines can detect these and will only put you in more trouble. Avoid keyword stuffing. In the past, overstuffing articles and site content with the same keyword may help improve ranking, but search engines are smarter now and can determine if
your content is natural or no longer of good quality.

As we know automated robots visit every page in the index. The content is acquired to be analyzed at a later time. Cloaking involves giving the automated robot a different page, while assigning a completely new one to human users. Search engines greatly detest this practice. You should also stay away from
doorway pages.

Doorway pages are described as trying to create a page to rank high on search engines, but truly having no real good content. Orphaned pages may also be considered as doorway pages by search engines and they can incur penalties.

As we have discussed before you want to avoid spamming. One method of spam is by putting up useless pages with no content that is just created to rank high on search engines.

Ultimately the type of hat you wear when you optimize your website is completely up to you, so you have to make the decision weather or not you want put on your white hat to play it safe or wear the black hat and risk it all!
post soon. We will be talking about good content strategies that you can use in your SEO campaign.

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