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[P399]Pink And Black Hat

by Dave, Dav

Search Engine Optimization techniques are classified into two broad categories: techniques that search engines recommend as part of good design and those techniques that search engines do not approve of and attempt to minimize the effect of, referred to as spamdexing. Some experts classify these methods, and the practitioners who employ them, as either white hat SEO, or black hat SEO. White hats tend to produce results that last a long time, whereas black hats anticipate that their sites may eventually be banned either temporarily or permanently once the search engines discover what they are doing.

White SEO conforms to the search engines' guidelines. As the search engine guidelines are not written as a series of rules or commandments, this is an important distinction to note. White hat SEO is not just about following guidelines, but is about ensuring that the content a search engine indexes and subsequently ranks is the same content a user will see.

White hat advice is generally summed up as creating content for users, not for search engines, and then making that content easily accessible to the spiders, rather than attempting to trick the algorithm from its intended purpose. White hat SEO is not exact like website promotion, but they are similar in certain ways.

Black hat SEO attempts to improve rankings in ways that are disapproved of by the search engines, or involve deception. It tries to trick the Search Engine. One black hat technique uses text that is hidden, either as text colored similar to the background, in an invisible div, or positioned off screen. Another method gives a different page depending on whether the page is being requested by a human visitor or a search engine.

Search engines may penalize sites they discover using black hat methods. Such penalties can be applied either automatically by the search engines' algorithms, or by a manual site review.

One example was the February 2006 Google removal of both BMW Germany and Ricoh Germany for use of black hat SEO. Both companies, however, quickly apologized, fixed the offending pages, and were restored to Google's list.

If you are a serious online entrepreneur you probably have a website and want to see it at the top of the search engine results. You know that SEO – search engine optimization – is what it takes to see your dream come true, so you decide to hire a company. You browse the web and read: “top 10 position guaranteed”. That's exactly what you've been dreaming for, that's exactly what you should not buy!

No one, but no one could ever possibly guarantee you a top ten position in the search engines. There are no secret SEO techniques; no magic tools that can make your site reach the top over night. There are, however, some tricks. Many so-called SEO firms still use them, to make money fast. But their techniques will only hurt your site. Let's say your site will, indeed, appear in the top of the search results for a while. With a little bit of luck it will even stay there longer. But once the search engines discover it, they will seriously penalize it. Using tricks to fool the search engines is called black hat SEO – and if you want to have success in the long-term and promote a serious online business you should stay away from black hat SEO techniques. In short, here is what you should avoid:

Stuffing your pages with keywords. Don't stuff your web pages with keywords or text of the same background color. Guess what? Search engines can detect that and the result will be catastrophic for the website. For example getting banned out of Google.

Invisible text. That's about the same with keyword stuffing. Even though the invisible is not keyword rich, it will still be considered “spammy” by the search engines. What's the use of invisible text anyway?

Doorway pages. Don't use them. Doorway pages are “fake” pages, customized for a particular keyword or phrases and programmed to be seen solely by the search engine spiders and not by visitors. This is bad SEO. All the philosophy behind search engine optimization is related to improving user experience. Building web pages no one will ever see is not an unethical approach to SEO. Google, and all the other search engines, have strict policies against doorway pages.

Linking farms. Again Google: Google does not like artificial linking (link farms and link stuffing). Linking to spam sites may get your site penalized.

In conclusion, using any techniques considered spammy and unethical by the search engines could damage your site. Many of these techniques might work in the short-term but, unless you want your site flagged or banned, do avoid them. On the other hand, black hat SEO raises questions when it comes to the general credibility of your online business and website.

Instead of going for black hat SEO, fix your site and optimize each page. When you do it, don't think solely about the search engines. This should be your second thought. Your main concern should be whether the visitors find the site useful or not. Bottom line: optimize your website for the users and the search engines, using ethical tools.

Article Source : Pg. 17

About Author

Both Dave & Scott Lindsay are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.

Dave has sinced written about articles on various topics from Types of Cancer, Home Management and Work From Home. David is the developer of , which can post articles to hundreds of article sites and mail lists automatically.. Dave's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.

Scott Lindsay has sinced written about articles on various topics from Payday Loans, Computers and The Internet and Mens Health. . Scott Lindsay's top article generates over 1830000 views. to your Favourites.