Search Engine Marketing Blog

White Hat SEO

White hat SEO is a term used to describe so-called ethical search engine optimization, as opposed to black hat SEO. The basic premise for white hat search engine optimization is that the methods used to increase the ranking of the web pages will be consistent with search engine guidelines. Good SEO techniques mean that what the viewer sees is pleasing to the eye and is a response to the basic query posed on the search engine.

Probably the most important thing to remember when optimizing search engine results is that consistent efforts to comply with basic web design factors will get better results over time than will high risk techniques commonly known as black hat SEO. There are both on page and off page white hat techniques that should be utilized. It cannot be overemphasized that search engine optimization should be the overriding reason for presenting a web site. The most effective approach is to prepare and present a web site that is understandable and agreeable to human viewers that will also be perceived well by the search engines.

Since ‘white hat’ has the connotation of ethical as opposed to ‘black hat’, many web site developers use the term incorrectly to refer to others methods as being somehow less ethical than their own. Generally, the term white hat has been used to mean if it the SEO results can be seen by the visitor to the web page it is a white hat SEO. If it cannot be seen by a visitor, or is something that is not an integral part of the whole, then it is unethical or black hat.

The major reason for adopting white hat methods is that the search engines provide a lower ranking for pages that use black hat methods. A web page that consistently uses black hat methods will receive a lower ranking or will be banned completely. If banned, the web page results simply don’t show up in search engine queries. It’s important to remember that using methods that search engines don’t approve of is not morally wrong, just a violation of what may be arbitrary rules.

So, assuming you don’t want to be ranked lower than you deserve, or banned, how can you use so-called white hat techniques to improve your search engine placement? Review your web sites and check for things like dangling links. Dangling links are those that don’t go anywhere else. Each page in your website should link to at least one other page. Make sure all the links off site work and go to pages that you are proud to be associated with.

Review the use of keywords and phrases in your META attributes. Use ALT attributes where appropriate. Google in particular looks for relevant links so that the viewer who is sent to your page is going to find material that matches the search queries. The search engines also want to see your page titles match the content on the page.

In short, the following white hat methods have been proved to be effective in improving search engine rankings.

 Select your keywords carefully, distribute them throughout your web site and don’t overuse them
 Make sure internal links get the viewer to the search term with no more than 4 clicks and 2 clicks is preferable
 Try to use good incoming links appropriately to match your keywords and pages.

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