WHITE HAT SEO STRATEGIES
WHITE HAT SEO STRATEGIES –
WHAT, WHY, HOW, AND ALL OTHER QUESTIONS ANSWERED!
In this day and age, when more than half the population is online and searching, you want to be seen on the first page of search results. Not on the second page where, as the joke goes “Dead bodies are buried!” So, all of us try and optimize our websites with the hope that the gods that be the search engine bots locate us and list us at the top of the first page. And as anyone with a fair knowledge of SEO knows, it is not a sprint but one hell of a long marathon!
All of us want results, right? We have built a great business or a website and want it to be at the top of organic search results. The question that you now need to ask is – Am I in it for a long haul? Because the answer to this question is essentially that decides your SEO strategy – of being either White Hat or Black Hat.
What is White Hat SEO?
White Hat SEO is the application of search engine recommended/ approved strategies, tactics, and techniques to improve organic page listing of your website. In simple English, it represents all the ethical steps taken to show your webpage on the first page of relevant search results.
White Hat vs Black Hat SEO:
So how exactly is it different from Black Hat SEO? Ever seen the old movies where the angels always dressed in white and the demons in black? Well! That, in a nutshell, describes these concepts.
While White Hat SEO looks at the long-term goals and success to optimize based on search engine defined guidelines, Black Hat SEO just concentrate on short term profits by utilizing the loopholes in search engine algorithm.
WHITE HAT Vs BLACK HAT
| White Hat | Black Hat |
|---|---|
| Ethical Optimisation practices to drive organic traffic | Exploit loopholes in the algorithm to drive organic traffic |
| White Hat | Black Hat |
|---|---|
| Focus on user or person who is searching | Focus on search engine |
| White Hat | Black Hat |
|---|---|
| Long term benefits | Short term profits |
| White Hat | Black Hat |
|---|---|
| Beneficial: consistent efforts are rewarded by improvement in rankings | Risky; might result in penalties when identified |
| White Hat | Black Hat |
|---|---|
| Use strategies like quality content and website, keyword research, mobile responsiveness, relevant links, and references | Use strategies like keyword stuffing, link farming, duplicate content, and Private Blog Networks |
Why Use White Hat Strategies?
It is more economical and does not require a great deal of technical knowledge: The basics of SEO are simple and easy to implement. They do not need you to have extensive technical knowledge but to understand the pulse of your customer. Black Hat strategies on the other end need a more technical understanding to beat the system even if it is for a short time. Also, with the algorithms getting smarter with time, you need to invest in costlier tactics to evade them and deliver results.
It is well rewarded by the search engines in the long run by improvement in your website rankings: Practices that align with the search engine best practices improve the web site ranking over time. It is not just enough to make your way to the top of the SERP but also to stay there. While Black Hat strategies might help you reach the top quickly, only White Hat strategies help you consistently maintain the position.
It follows ethical practices and hence carries almost no risk of penalties: When one is trying to beat the system, one must always be one step ahead of the system to escape getting caught and penalized! White Hat strategies with their focus on the customer and prescribed best practices carry close to zero chances of being penalized.
It helps you maintain a good reputation and allows you to develop strong relationships through publishing quality content: Any strategy that centres around good, quality, purposeful and engaging content, and customer-centric focus translates to satisfied users. This is the foundation of a strong relationship that can be built through consistently delivering value.
Common White Hat SEO Strategies
- The searcher who enters the query when s/he is in need
- The website owner viz. you who tries to show up for any query related to your products or services
- The search engine that indexes and shows your website/ page in response to the searcher's query
The content must be centred around the reader/ searcher and has to address the intent behind the query. Good and relevant content results in better engagement with the customer and this gets rewarded with better page ranking. Irrelevant content that gets created just for the sake of getting higher positions will eventually result in higher bounce rates leading to a fall in the page ranking.
It is also seen that long, in-depth, and engaging content rank higher on Google. While Google denies the relationship between word count and page ranking, various research studies have shown that longer content helps position your page better. This could be due to the increased scope of integrating keywords and the potential of gaining better backlinks.
In short, while creating your content, remember to match it with user intent, keep it rich, relevant, and in-depth and focus on user great experience and readability.
Identifying relevant keywords and stuffing your content with it is a thing of the past. That does not mean that you do not undertake keyword research! Instead, you centre the research around intent behind the query and look at identifying long-tail keywords to match them. Some of the tools that you can use for researching and identifying these keywords are – Google suggest, Google/Bing Keyword planner, Online communities, and Google search console.
Once identified, do not stuff your content with the keywords. The search bots have evolved to understand the intent behind this and penalize such actions. Instead, use the keywords sparingly and only when needed and build your content around them.
The identified keywords need to be inserted in the page titles and metadata making it easier for the search bots to find and display them.
Backlinks to your page are an important part of improving your page rankings. They indicate the authenticity and credibility of your page. While there are a few Black Hat ways of generating links floating out there, be sure to steer away from them. Instead, concentrate on getting the right kind of links that are relevant to your page. The technicalities of link building are outside the ambit of this blog and would be covered in a separate blog.
Ensure that your page loads fast and is accessible all the time. The website should be easy to navigate and have a great user experience. It should also be mobile responsive.
Doing this through Google My Business allows Google to geographically match customer intent with your page and thus prefer you over other players especially in “near me” queries.
This allows you to structure your website such that the search bots can easily access the pages and understand the context behind the content in those pages. This helps them better match these pages with user intent.
Final Thoughts
In this fiercely competitive world of Search Engine Optimisation, it is quite easy to be enticed by the quick results that a Black Hat SEO strategy can deliver! However, it is important to remember that we are in it for a long haul! It is important to focus on our customers and end goals and build our strategy around it. We must go WHITE HAT and REAP THE BENEFITS that it has to offer!