SEO – White Hat Success or Black Hat Exclusion

In the process of trying to gain popularity and bring in more business, there are some companies that look at adopting some of the common modes of leveraging through Search engine optimization. This might help them or back fire and lead to their site getting black listed from the index. So, at the end of the day, it really does not matter how good or bad their site is, but what means they adopt to increase traffic.

The two methodologies available for SEO is White hat SEO or Black Hat SEO. The names might sound confusing, but they are modes through which people attract visitors to the page. One of this is ethical while the other is unethical and considered similar to cheating. So, when an individual or organisation is desperate for some visibility, they might adopt this mode, which unfortunately leads them to trouble.

White hat is the direct way of search engine marketing and mode of internet marketing through which the user follows guidelines. They use techniques approved by the Search engines. By tweaking the website, or adding some extra words that might attract attention, the user will rely on links, or Pay per click management to increase their traffic. There are no tricks or shortcuts used here; the content of the page is created to serve the user with information and not just for the SEO benefit. Also called organic search listings, these sites rely on their own strengths rather than manipulating the system.

On the other hand, black hat SEO is a route less preferred because it leads to banning of the website if discovered. Here, the owner of the site might have put in content just so they lure search engines. It could be text hidden in the back drop, or placed off the screen. It is also called spamdex, and is unethical, not approved by the search engines either. Cloaking or invisible text are also used in these sites to lure customers to come over to their portal. Here, the user is trying to con the search engine into believing their website has relevant text when a keyword is entered and so tries to increase the ranking of that portal. Search engine optimization through this method will lead to expulsion and loss of rank of the particular website from the index and it will not be shown in the results displayed on the search engines.