Search engine optimization (SEO) is critical to business success, with 68% of online experiences beginning with a search engine and over 50 % of website traffic coming from organic searches.
Successful SEO, on the other hand, necessitates the use of the proper techniques. Although there aren’t always formal criteria for what constitutes ethical SEO, the search engines will penalize you in their rankings if you don’t follow what is considered a decent practice.
Let’s face it, Google is huge enough to have a big say in your company’s future, and you can’t afford to mess with the algorithms.
You might be confused by the title of this article if you’re wondering what digital marketing and SEO have to do with hats. Don’t worry, we’ll explain what black, white, and grey hat SEO are and why they’re important.
What is White Hat SEO?
It refers to working practices that adhere to Google’s guidelines. Sites that progress in this manner are not at risk of being penalized or sanctioned by search engines.
Under Google’s regulations, White Hat SEO methods are acceptable. As a result of their extensive and systematic work, white hat SEO optimizers have a higher ranking in SERP issuance. It takes time, but the results are finally steady and long-term.
White hat SEO only uses legal and ethically acceptable strategies, that do not provide immediate results but secure a good reputation and long-term profit.
Some White Hat SEO strategies
Quality content
Content that is relevant to the topic of your website. White Hat SEO does not prohibit you from utilizing keywords, but rather encourages you to use them in a natural way that directs to your content rather than using a keyword every other sentence. Keep text on point since Google employs artificial intelligence to understand the topic of a website.
Linking
Internal and external linking at the appropriate points, such as a link back to the source of a statistic or another one of your pages that goes into greater detail on a topic.
Structure data Schema mark
With a price and score review, for example, structure data schema markup improves the appearance of your search result. You can also provide hours of operation in your three-pack entry.
What is Black hat SEO?
Black Hat SEO refers to a set of tactics that have become increasingly popular to improve a site’s or page’s ranking by violating the search engine’s terms of service.
At first, manipulating search engine algorithms may result in a higher SERP ranking for the website, but in the long run, it will have the opposite impact. They fall within the category of unethical SEO practices.
Here’s a list of Black Hat SEO tactics to stay away from
Hidden text and links
They are adding text to the site that is not visible to the visitor, like as keywords or links. They can blend into the background or be written in zero-point type, be hidden behind photographs or placed on invisible one-pixel images, or a link in the form of a single minuscule symbol can be hidden in the text.
Cloaking
Creating content that is different for users and search robots. Visible and easy-to-understand content is generated for visitors. Tailored texts are written for spider programs based on their preferences. To determine when and what to display, look at IP, data, addresses, or user agent strings.
What is Grey-Hat SEO?
As with many aspects of SEO, there are varying viewpoints on what defines Grey Hat SEO.
Take a look at the first page of Google’s results for “what is Grey Hat SEO,” and you’ll find a variety of classifications that fall into the following categories
- It’s a hybrid of White Hat and Black Hat approaches;
- It’s a tactic that is currently neither white nor black hat but could become the opposite in the future due to changes in how search engines work.
Both of these definitions have something in common.
Grey hat SEO is neither black hat nor white hat, but rather a hybrid of the two. Either a combination of the two or a transition between the two.
It’s not something you’d willingly tell Google you’re doing.
This isn’t something you should be penalized for right away.
It’s not necessarily a bad practice, but it’s done with the goal of gaining a competitive advantage in the rankings.
Here are some examples of Grey Hat SEO techniques
- Purchasing competitors expired domains or those with a lot of backlinks and redirecting them to your page.
- Private blog networks (PBNs) necessitate the creation of many single-page websites or the hiring of someone to do it.
Conclusion
Last but not least, maintain your composure. It’s difficult to admit when you’re wrong. However, being honest about SEO strategies is the best approach to avoid confusion. Take some time to consider whether what you’re doing is the best thing for your website.
Now that you know what a white hat, black hat, and grey hat are, SEO companies offer specialized services to meet your company’s internet needs. If you are seeking a skilled digital marketing agency, go no further than Stellar Digital. We have a quality team of digital marketers who can assist you with your project. To discover more about our digital marketing and SEO services, go to stellardigital.in.
