If you’ve perused our site, you may have noticed that we talk about using white-hat techniques for search engine optimization rather than black-hat techniques. This might have led you to wonder just what these terms mean.

Today, we’ll take an in-depth look at the two approaches.

The names “white-hat” and “black-hat” are an homage to old Western movies, where the protagonists would wear white hats and the villains would invariably wear black hats. From that, we’re sure you can deduce which is good and which is bad, but let’s dive in and take a deeper look at the distinctions between the two.

Black-Hat Techniques

This could be effectively referred to as “gaming the system.” Using these strategies involves taking shortcuts or manipulating code and copy on a web page to try and achieve higher rankings on search engines. These tactics typically add no value for the visitor, and might even downgrade the user experience, but are aimed at capturing the attention of bots and crawlers, drawing traffic from keywords that may have little to no relevance to the page itself.

Do black-hat techniques work? Well, in the short-term, they sometimes do. These tricks have been developed by individuals who know how to take advantage of certain aspects of search engine algorithms and processes, so when implemented properly they will often lead to temporary gains in rankings on Google, Bing and other engines.

However, many of the tactics involved with black-hat SEO are against the policies set by major search engines, so using this approach can lead to having your site penalized or even banned from search results. Beyond that, the negative impact on the experience of users browsing your page will kill any engagement or return traffic. Black-hat SEO techniques are widely viewed as spam.

Examples of Black-Hat Strategies

• Setting up automated, generic content
• Creating hidden or invisible text or links for bots to pick up
• Stuffing keywords into content
• Misleading redirects and doorway pages
• Link farms/wheels/networks
• Adding unrelated keywords to create false relevancy

White-Hat Techniques

These are methods for optimizing a page that are in line with search engine regulations and are focused on enriching the user experience while also driving better organic search engine rankings. In other words, white-hat SEO is about creating a site that humans will come across through a search and actually find useful and enjoyable. At Top Source, it’s the only approach we embrace.

While they aren’t necessarily as fast and easy to implement as shady black-hat tactics, these techniques are far more rewarding. They can be equally effective at improving search ranks and they don’t put you at risk of banishment from engines or frustration from visitors. They go hand-in-hand with quality content and user-friendly navigation.

Examples of White-Hat Strategies

• Adding relevant keywords to headers and content
• Strategic meta keywords and descriptions on the back-end
• Alt text that accurately describes content and media
• Backlinking with quality sites
• Link building campaigns
• Creating strong and consistent content

Let us show you how to effectively use white-hat techniques to improve your search results and provide a long-lasting boost to your online presence. Contact us today!