Tech

White Hat vs Black Hat SEO

posted by Chris Valentine

When you first start your own website or business (for that matter) things are hard. Often, you’re left to wear multiple hats while you struggle to handle the business side as well as the marketing side. While SEO marketing is obviously something your website needs, it’s not always as easy as it sounds. For those who are doing their own search engine optimization for their website, it’s critical that you understand the difference between white hat and black hat SEO methods. If you’re looking for a clear-cut guide to help you through the sometimes-messy world of SEO, we’re here to help! Take a look at our guide as we take you through the basics of each method, and help you decide which method is best for you.

What is White Hat SEO?

White hat SEO is what most people will think of when it comes to search engine optimization. These are the methods that Google approves of and responds to; they’re designed to make your website easy to find, can speed up your page loading times, and makes your site easy to navigate for the average user. In general, it’s important to remember that white hat SEO methods will take people into account first. Keywords aren’t spammed just for the sake of getting a higher ranking: The reader’s website experience is first and search engines will always come second. These methods also tend to be more concerned with long-term results instead of a quick fix.

For the most part, completing white hat SEO methods is easy enough to do on your own; although you won’t get the results, the experts will get. Simply put, there’s no way to beat experience. For those who want to make sure that they follow only white hate methods, try looking into a professional service such as Jumpfactor – B2B SEO Agency. While these can cost some upfront cash, it’s also a method that’s guaranteed to keep you in Google’s good graces.

What is Black Hat SEO?

For reputable websites, black hat SEO methods have to be avoided at all costs. These methods tend to operate like cheat codes in video games, exploiting any loopholes in search engines’ algorithms in order to get you great results with little time. While this can sound like a great idea when you’re first getting started, it’s important to note that you can get penalized by Google for using these methods.

Black hat SEO methods are pretty easy to spot, especially as a reader. These methods don’t take user experience into the equation and focus entirely on getting noticed and ranked by search engines. One of the first examples of black hat methods is keyword stuffing, although Google has largely cracked down on this within the past few years. The second notorious culprit is automated comment spam. If you’ve read the comments section of a blog lately, you probably already know what automated comments look like, and so does Google. These comments tend to look like they came from a sales script, riddled with mysterious links and are often off-topic.

SEO doesn’t have to feel like a complicated mess. When you’re starting out, all you have to do is make sure you learn the ropes properly. Using black hat methods will only get you superficial results and is simply not sustainable for a legitimate website. Remember that online, your reputation is everything! Stick to white hat methods, contact an expert if you need help, and watch your traffic grow naturally.

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