Search Engine Optimization Techniques – Three Sides of a Coin

Introducing the Three Search Engine Optimization Techniques

With a regular coin, there are two sides, but with search engine optimization techniques there are three. You have to look at white hat, black hat, and the third, which is like the edge of the coin lying right between the two sites, grey hat. These are all different and you must be aware of what they are.

Black and Grey Hat Search Engine Optimization Techniques

Black Hat

Black hat search engine optimization techniques are the worst, but some will say they are the best. They are called black hat because they are usually unethical business practices that may produce a large sum of money fast, but they fizzle out in a hurry as well. These techniques are the major reason for the Google Panda update.

When people tell you that a strategy is Black Hat, it usually means it is unacceptable. It may be legal, but it is considered cheating the system and is usually the lazy person’s method. Typically, this will include doing things that help your site climb to the top of the rankings by fooling the system.

The reason these strategies don’t last very long is because Google and other search engines catch on and make changes. Google did a full update to help get rid of many of these search engine optimization techniques and they no longer work. Many saw their websites go from page one to disappearing into the abyss of the Google monster.

Grey Hat

Grey Hat search engine optimization techniques are not much different than Black Hat; however, they may be accepted by some and dismissed by others. Some believe these are smart ways to gaining ranking on the search engines, but there is an ethical question with each one of them. This is the edge of the coin and is right between Black and White hat.

You want to be very careful to make sure you are not using either Black or Grey Hat strategies if you want to continue to make money online for the long term. These strategies have been weeded out quite well and will continue to be weeded out until Google has make all the updates needed to only allow White Hat sites, doing things for the end user or visitor, to be displayed at the top of the rankings.

White Hat Search Engine Optimization Techniques

White hat strategies are the ones you want to use and they will help you get to where you are trying to go over time, but you can stay there for a longer period of time. These include building natural backlinks, creating high quality content readers can use, and making sure your site is built to attract the type of visitors it should attract.

If you are new to internet marketing and search engine optimization, make sure you avoid all strategies that are not considered White Hat. This will keep you from doing something illegal or something that is going to get you slapped by Google in the future. Only use White Hat search engine optimization techniques and you will be better off for the long term.


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