In SEO there are two main approaches to the positioning process. These are divided into White Hat SEO (WHS) and Black Hat SEO (BHS). The first one is fully compliant with the Google Webmaster Guidelines, while the second one is referred to as inadvisable, especially when aiming for a long-term result.
Examples of Black Hat SEO methods
The use of the following website Positioning techniques may end with a penalty from Google:
- Keyword stuffing – is the unnatural, enhanced presence of a given keyword phrase on a given website, both in the text and in fragments of the website code: such as meta tags or alts.
- Cloaking – means presenting search engine robots with different content compared to the one intended for the user. Unfortunately, this is like playing with fire. When Google robots hit this Scam, the site can be removed from the search engine index for a long time.
- Link schemes – it is a process aimed at obtaining external ranking links for a given page (often automatically) in a very short time. This is Very risky, as search engines do not tolerate this kind of activity.
- Doorway pages – consists of creating websites to specific key phrases, redirecting the user via links to another website, usually with different content.
- Spamming – this is particularly the case with over-use of blogs and forums, over-advertising or adding links with keyword anchor text.
- Parasite hosting – involves the creation of Back-up mini-websites which link to the positioned domain.
White Hat SEO, i.e. in accordance with Google’s guidelines
It is based on processes which will make a specific website appear attractive not just to Internet users, but also to search engine robots. An important feature of Ethical positioning according to guidelines, is that it excludes the use of spamming methods and puts an emphasis on the interest of potential Internet users. A well-prepared website has the opportunity to gain a high rank in the search engine thanks to the fact that people interested in its content will recommend the website to each other and give positive feedback.
Therefore, we can say that White Hat SEO is a professional process that delivers stable results in the long run. The Ethical positioning methods include:
- Technical optimization of the page code in terms of loading speed or content caching.
- Optimizing content in terms of H-header use and presentation of content in a way that is useful to users.
- Avoiding Flash elements and limiting Java Script objects.
- Optimization of structure and URL links.
What are the risks of Black Hat SEO?
For Google, your ignorance is no excuse. The website can be penalised for breaking the rules. What punishment may occur for using Black Hat SEO practices?
- Applying a filter that will lower the page’s ranking in search results. The address does not disappear completely, but finding it requires going through many result pages. Such filters are Removed automatically.
- Ban, i. e. exclusion of a page from the search index either for a specific query or entirely.
- Reducing search engine trust in a given website.
- Descending the website’s position in search results.
