White/Grey/Black Hat Tactics

Since SE´s determine what information any searcher will see in the SERP´s it is important for any Site to be able to be visible high in the results as it is a known fact that very few searchers go beyond the first page of the results, in fact, it is a well established fact that the first three spots on the page get about 80% of the clicks.

The SE´s employ various methods in their algorithms to ensure that the searcher gets a result that is relevant to their search and that the content is fresh and meets their need. The SE´s apply many rules so that unscrupulous webmasters cannot manipulate the process to push their Site higher in the rankings. Although the SE´s do have “human site reviews”, for the most part the entire process is automatic based on the algorithms they use to rank sites and although these formulas are secret the process of website SEO discovers what works and what doesn´t.

Over the years it has been possible to find tactics to push the ranking of a site higher but which is contrary to the Search Engines TOS.
These tactics fall into three categories:

White Hat, Grey Hat and Black Hat

White Hat tactics are totally legitimate and fall within the rules applied by SE´s and include all the normal type of On and Off page optimization strategies expected and approved by SE´s.

Grey Hat tactics are tactics that are generally frowned upon by SE´s but which may, in certain circumstances, be acceptable eg, purchasing links for the purpose of advertising is completely legitimate. Purchasing links purely for the purpose of link popularity is considered abuse and although you would not probably get delisted, the value of those links will almost certainly be discounted and therefore of no value to you.
The advent of Affiliate Marketing and the whole SEO process has resulted in a huge amount of “duplicate content” on sites so for instance, an article directory may have a listing of articles on a specific subject that may appear many times or that they may post as well – this is considered legitimate but the SE´s will ensure that Top rankings are for sites that have original fresh content.

Black hat tactics are totally illegitimate tactics employed by webmasters to trick the SE´s into getting higher listings and will result in immediate delisting or being buried deep in the SE pages. There are literally hundreds of scripts available that allow you to use “cloaking”, “doorway pages”, “keyword stuffing”and dubious “redirects” – the SE´s are well aware of all these kind of tactics and although you may well get away with using them for a period of time be assured that you will be found out eventually and severely penalized.

You can be totally assured that Website SEO uses only White Hat tactics and you should avoid any company that suggests using any form of dubious practice to improve your ranking.

See our Code of Ethics and as to why you should consider using our Services

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