White Hat SEO Vs Black Hat SEO — Best SEO Strategy To Increase Website Traffic?
Wish to increase the ranking of your website on search engines?
For that, you need to be aware of the best search engine practices. To understand it, consider a scenario of the exam hall. Just like there are different kinds of students in an exam hall, there are various SEO strategies.
To know about White Hat SEO vs Black Hat SEO — Best SEO Strategy to implement, read further. I have also included the Grey Hat SEO for your reference.
Key Takeaways
- Brief description of White Hat SEO
- Explanation of Black Hat SEO
- Definition of Grey Hat SEO
- White Hat SEO techniques
- Black Hat SEO techniques
- Comparison of White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO
What is White Hat SEO?
Consider White Hat SEO as a student writing an exam. This student has been preparing for the exam for days and is writing the exam with full dedication with the aim of getting higher grades.
In technical terms, White Hat SEO is the ethical practices and techniques you follow to bring your website to higher positions in search engines like Google, Bing, etc.
Now that you know what White Hat SEO is, it’s time to understand the techniques it involves.
White Hat SEO Techniques
Below listed are the best White Hat SEO techniques that will help you rank your website in an ethical way by following the guidelines specified by search engines:
- Quality Content
- Backlinks from authoritative sources
- Fast Loading Time
- Keywords relevant to the content
- Keep the navigation simple
Quality Content
The most important component of current SEO is high-quality content.
When writing content for your web pages, remember to keep in mind that it is produced for the readers, not the search engine crawler.
It’s the best technique to influence how search engines rank your website or blog. Never forget that the king of SEO is quality content!
Also Read: Difference Between Content Writing And Copywriting
Backlinks from Authoritative Sources
One of the most crucial components of your SEO operations is authoritative backlinks acquired naturally instead of purchased links.
The significant impact on your ranking in SERPs and the improved overall site traffic make earning authoritative inbound links well worth the time and effort.
Fast Loading Time
Fast page loads are essential since unresponsive sites frustrate users.
Site speed is an important factor in search engine rankings from an SEO perspective. Websites that take a long time to load for any reason (big photos, image carousels, etc.) typically rank lower in SERPs.
Keywords relevant to the content
It is necessary to use keywords relevant to the content. For that, you are required to do an in-depth study of the content of the website.
Pay attention to how you use keywords as well. Limit your use to one main keyword and two to three subsidiary or supporting keywords.
Keep the Navigation Simple
In general, websites with easy navigation do better in organic search results.
Additionally, it makes it easier for visitors to find what they need without getting annoyed, which increases the chance of conversions.
What is Black Hat SEO?
Black Hat SEO is the student whose aim is the same to get higher grades, but the practices he follows are different from White Hat. He indulges in cheating and malpractices in the exam instead of preparing for it.
In such a case, if the invigilator catches you, then you might have to write the whole exam again, or there may be some negative marking.
Similarly, your website might get deleted by search engines if you do not follow the webmaster guidelines, or after some time, its ranking will be degraded since Black Hat SEO practices and technique is an unethical way of getting your site at a higher rank.
Black Hat SEO Techniques
- Keyword Stuffing
- Cloaking
- Hidden Texts
- Doorway Pages
- Buying Links
- Link Farms
- Article Spinning
Keyword Stuffing
When Black Hat SEOs use keyword stuffing, they try to manipulate their website's rankings by repeatedly using their primary target keywords in an unnatural and irrelevant manner.
It is an old tactic that won’t work with the current versions of Google and Bing’s algorithms and will almost certainly result in a penalty.
Cloaking
Content not appearing in the user’s browser is displayed to search engine crawlers.
In addition to helping websites rank for unrelated material, this dual channel gives users undesired results.
Hidden Texts
Hiding text and links can be done by altering their colour to match the background of the page, making their font size incredibly small so that no one can read it.
Doorway Pages
Visitors are directed to other pages by doorway pages. In an effort to increase links to a target page, black hat SEO techniques frequently produce a number of these pages with largely identical content.
Anyone using those pages is probably going to face the consequences if they don’t provide value in it.
Buying Links
Avoid buying the links at all. The links are probably of low quality, and if you’re a beginner, you’re more likely to lose money than boost your ranks.
Link Farms
This occurs when numerous websites link to one another. This used to work since links are a big indication to Google that your content is relevant to others.
However, nowadays, it is simple to be detected if your backlink profile doesn’t look authentic. Additionally, it is quite clear to Google that you are trying to trick it if the websites referring to yours have little relevance to one another.
Article Spinning
Most people steal content from other websites and simply change the terms to synonyms. Similar terms and meanings would be present, and websites that produced a lot of “fresh” content might rank better.
What is Grey Hat SEO?
Grey Hat SEO is a kind of search engine optimization technique that has not been properly defined. It does not fit under either of the categories of SEO — White and Black.
It is a combination of some of the strategies of White Hat and Black Hat and violates Google’s webmaster guidelines to a less extent than Black Hat SEO.
In simple terms, it can be understood in a way that a student studying for the exam but also involved in a few malpractices.
White Hat SEO vs Black Hat SEO
Here is a list of the key difference between White Hat SEO & Black Hat SEO:
White Hat SEOBlack Hat SEOCreate pages keeping users in mind.Create pages for search engine crawlers. Ethical way of ranking your website. Unethical way of ranking your website.Good for the long run and brings better outcomes. The website is eventually deindexed, blacklisted, or penalized by lower ranks. The techniques comprise Quality Content, Backlinks from authoritative sources, Fast Loading Time, Keywords relevant to the content, and Keeping the navigation simple. The techniques comprise Keyword Stuffing, Cloaking, Hidden Texts, Doorway Pages, Buying Links, Link Farms, and Article Spinning. Abide by the rules and guidelines of the search engines. Violates the rules and guidelines set by search engines. In addition to preserving the legitimacy of the website, it enhances your search performance on search engine result pages (SERP). People who are looking for quick returns use it. It raises a website’s credibility. It degrades the credibility of the website. Focus on user experience and fulfil the search intent. Does not fulfil the search intent. Secure a high rank in search engines by organic means. Indulges in illegal techniques to rank at a high position.
Conclusion
By now, I think you must have decided which SEO practice to choose for a website. If not, take my advice and only stick to White Hat SEO.
Since Black Hat SEO may allow you to see immediate results, it clearly violates Google’s guidelines, relies on manipulative techniques, and ultimately has a much higher probability of producing a penalty than the outcomes you desire.
So, if you want a long-lasting, beneficial effect on your search visibility, rely on White Hat SEO techniques.
Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQs )
What is Negative SEO?
Any unethical technique used to harm a competitor’s website’s search engine rankings is known as negative SEO. Because of its malicious intent, this is typically referred to as “black hat SEO.”
What are the types of SEO?
There are 4 types of SEO:
On-Page SEO
Off-Page SEO
Technical SEO
Local SEO
What do you mean by SERP?
The no. of results a search engine provides in response to a particular word or phrase query is known as a search engine results page (SERP).
Which is the best SEO?
The best method to build a successful website is to use white-hat SEO techniques. While maintaining the integrity of your website in accordance with the terms of service of the search engine, white-hat SEO raises your search engine rating on the SERPs.
