Anyone who is familiar with search engine optimization has heard the terms, ?white hat? and ?black hat? in reference to SEO practices. Discussion abounds when we attempt to draw a line in the sand between what is considered ?white hat? and what is considered ?black hat.? There are those that claim that any type of website optimization is considered cheating. There are also those who are willing to do anything to get ahead, regardless of the consequences later down the line.



So when does website optimization turn from white to black? Is there a gray area, and if so, how big is it? Below I will discuss two areas of website optimization and the differences between white and black hat in both of them.

Website Content

Anyone who has spent any sort of time in website optimization knows that including keywords in your content is one of the best ways to get a ranking for that term. Including the correct amount of keywords is called optimization, adding too many keywords is called spam. Is there a magic number/percentage? Many SEO experts say, as long as your content is readable, then it isn't spam, other experts say that a keyword density anywhere between 8-15% is optimal. This area is probably the most heavily discussed of all the optimization methods in terms of white hat and black hat. In fact, much of what is called ?content enrichment? has been put under the label of ?gray hat.? This involves items that are legitimate optimization techniques but are generally abused. For example, including the keyword ?computer parts? in your content is essential to your site if you want to rank for that term. Due to the millions of potential competitors for that term, the word might need to appear on your page a little more than normal in order for that page to be fully optimized. This practice is abused by those who use the keyword so many times that the article ceases to become informative and becomes more of a page geared towards the select .001% of the world's population who actually gains pleasure out of reading the same phrase over and over again.

It is no secret that the search engines love content. In their eyes, the more content, the better chance that some of it contains information that users are searching for. However, the search engines are not dumb; they know which side their bread is buttered on. If a search engine stops providing meaningful results and turns first page rankings into what boils down to a ?keyword race?, the search engine loses credibility and eventually, revenue. Therefore, it is in the search engine's best interest to keep spammed content out of the top results.

Linking

Another important aspect of website optimization is your linking campaign. A well structured linking campaign can lead to significant increases in your search engine rankings. Many webmasters see the value in linking and use devious methods of achieving them. Google has made it very clear that anyone caught paying for links will receive a penalty. So what does this mean? How can Google tell if a link has been paid for? The truth is, they probably can't. However, if they see that it is because of massive number of links pointing to your site, a red flag immediately goes up. If they see that a decent number of links pointing to your site are from ?link farms? or completely unrelated sites, you will undoubtedly be penalized. In an ideal, white hat, world, everyone would understand the value of linking and there would be almost nothing but reciprocal links, or genuine one way links. The truth is, we have all paid for a link, whether it is to a blog, or to another site. The nature of the linking business just works that way. However, if you want to avoid a Search Engine penalty, take great care to make sure that the links pointing to your site are at least somewhat related to your industry, services or products.

The difference between white and black hat when it comes to linking, might not necessarily lie in the method of procuring links, but in the number of links acquired and the relevancy of those links. As an SEO specialist, I would much rather have one link pointing to my site from a reputable, related site than 100 links to my site from questionable domains.

Now it's Time to Choose a Side!

There is always some risk involved when optimizing a website. Methods that increase rankings today can be just as easily lost with a simple twist on the algorithm dial by any of the major search engines.

The simple truth is that sites that resort to black hat SEO tactics generally need to do so because the content on their site is not meaningful enough to achieve a first page ranking any other way. I am not here to sit on my cloud of judgment and hand down life lessons to all of you sinners out there, but take a good look at your SEO practices. I have seen SEO companies use black hat methods to help a client achieve number 1 rankings and then laugh all the way to the bank once the search engines change their algorithm and the client suddenly finds themselves out of the top 50, or even worse, banned from the search engines.

There are many Search Engine Optimization companies out there who have proven that white hat methods work. They have been able to distinguish the borders of the gray area and stay comfortably away from less than reputable methods of achieving high rankings because their client's long term success is very important to them.