Posted by admin on Tue, 01/22/2008 – 18:46
We’ve discussed what SEO is, some myths, and some misleading sales pitches, but before we talk more about SEO and your business, there is one more topic we should take a look at. Black Hat SEO.
What’s The Difference?
Now that’s a difficult question to answer. I stated a few times that the idea behind SEO is to create and promote quality content. I even stated that an SEO firm should abide by the search engines’ guidelines. But when it comes to black hat SEO, all of that is thrown out the window…sorta.
Black hat SEOs use tactics that the search engines would greatly frown upon to rank websites. Some examples would include creating a page that would be delivered when a search engine hits it, and a different one if a human visitor hits it. This way, a black hat could rank a site for terms that may not be on the page a person would see. There’s a lot more to it than that, but that’s the idea.
The Divide/Gray Hat
Unfortunately, the definitions of white hat vs. black hat have changed, and really aren’t clear anymore. From first look, one could say that they are completely white hat, abiding by all of the search engines’ rules, but they also submit to directories in a bulk fashion. This is by no means a “bad” practice, but Google tends to think differently depending on the circumstances. Google would like to see links to your site grow in a natural way (with very little, if any push by the webmaster or SEO), and not through mass submission to directories. Ath this point, most SEOs take on the title of “Gray Hat.”
Because of this, and a large number of arguements pertaining to what is white hat and what is black hat, there really isn’t as clear a line as there used to be.
All Black
Though the line between black and white isn’t always clear, the end of the spectrum is still very clear. The professional black hat provides a service to rank and/or drive traffic, by imploying the use of methods which exploit weaknesses in a search engine’s algorithms.
Now, being that these methods are so hated by the search engines, getting caught using these methods could result in a ranking penalty, and even a complete ban of the domain name by the search engines.
That’s Some Bad SEO
Nope. Not really. In fact, there are some black hats that not only make a very good living themselves, but can really turn a profit for their clients. Most black hats are up front about their tactics, and explain the risks involved ahead of time (if you’ve ever been through surgery, even a doctor explains the chance of death). This doesn’t make them “bad.” Actually, it makes black hats pretty smart. You see, as a “white hat” it’s easy for me to do a little testing, keep up with Google’s guidelines, and continue my processes accordingly. On the flip side, black hats have to constantly be ahead of the game. Testing, trying, failing, testing, rinsing, repeating. That’s the black hat SEOs life.
If you run a few sites that you don’t mind getting kicked out, and want to turn a quick profit, the black hat SEO might be just what the doctor ordered. The problem is finding them. They don’t exactly shout about their methods, and most don’t even take on clients. Even once you find one, making sure said black hat is good at what they do is entirely different. After all, how do you know that they will know what they are doing?
But There Is One Issue Here
All this writing to make one point. White hats make use of acceptable tactics to provide a good service. Black hats provide a service, but using different methods that a search engine probably won’t like. But there’s an in between “SEO” in there as well. The bad SEO.
There are some firms or so-called SEOs that will be all too happy to take your money, and attempt rankings making use of “black hat” techniques that they don’t fully understand. This results in the ban of your site, and nothing more to show for it. Sometimes, these bad SEOs won’t even know that they are making use of tactics known as black hat. All the more reason to as questions, and make yourself aware of the various basics of SEO, and choose your service provider accordingly.
I know this should have been a part of the ‘Misleading SEO Services’ page, but it’s important to understand these concepts in just a little bit more depth. It’s also important to understand that the black hat SEO isn’t necessarily a bad guy, just someone that uses different methods; and to be able to discern the real bad guys. The ones that don’t provide a good service either way.
Special thanks to XMCP from SlightlyShadySEO.com for looking this over and making sure I don’t look like a jerk.