Site Search

Enter your search terms Submit search form

findsomearticles.com Web

Links

Browse Articles

Highest Rated

Most Popular

Internet > SEO

Black and White - The Philosophies of SEO

Search engine optimization otherwise known as SEO is a well-liked form of search engine marketing. The main goal of which (as its name would suggest) is to improve the ranking of the site in various search engines. An entire industry of consultants has sprung up around the idea of search engine optimization. It's necessary to note that when it comes to SEO there are two distinct methodologies at work when it comes to optimization.

In fact, the SEO consultants themselves as well as their methods can be subdivided further into two different groups. The categories are best known as "white hat SEO" (which is aimed at improving overall site quality, and increasing the site's ranking through approved methods), or "black hat SEO" (often use methods such as cloaking and spamdexing to increase rankings. However, using such methods can lead to your site to being removed from search engine listings). Those in the white hat camp charge that black hat methods are not only giving SEO a inferior name but are also attempting to manipulate and undermine the search rankings. The black hatters counter that argument by saying that in truth all SEO is an attempt to manipulate rankings, and therefore the particular methods one uses to increase rankings are irrelevant. In other words they take the more Machiavellian approach of using the end results to justify the means they use.

So what more specifically are the methods being employed by the two camps?

White hat methods:

These methods typically involve following the search engines' published guidelines as to what is and what isn't acceptable. The advice typically given by the white hat SEO experts is to create more user-friendly content, and not focus so much on the search engines. That is if your site is well put together and presents something users need it will naturally climb in the rankings. Also by making content that is easily accessible to the search engines spiders it will be decently read and therefore decently indexed in the search engines. The white hatters are needed most often because a webmaster has made critical mistakes in either the design or the set-up of their websites, inadvertently "poisoning" them so that they will not rank well. The SEOs then attempt to discover and correct these mistakes, which may include unreadable menus, broken links, temporary redirects, or simply a poor navigation structure.

Here are a few examples of SEO activities which the search engines find acceptable:

? Using a reasonably-sized, accurate description meta tag without excessive use of keywords, exclamation marks or off topic terms

? Optimizing tags, titles and other parts of the code as necessary

? Using WordTracker or a similar database to find well-liked and relevant keywords and phrases to use for your site

? Monitoring the various search engines to ensure that your URL gets indexed

? Increasing the amount of unique content on the site

? Writing quality content for the website visitors instead of the search engines

Black hat methods:

Whereas the white hat methods follow search engine guidelines "Black hat" SEO methods to try to improve rankings by any means important. Most of these methods are disapproved of by the search engines, typically because of their deceptive nature, but also hamper the ability of the search engines to provide quality content to site visitors. Search engines often penalize the sites they discover using black hat methods, by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from the search engine results altogether. These penalties are usually applied automatically by the search engines' algorithms, because the Internet is too large to make manual policing of websites feasible. However once they are discovered, search engines may take action against those found to be using unethical SEO methods. Take for example Google's removal of both BMW Germany and Ricoh Germany in February 2006 for use of these practices.

One common black hat method is known as Spamdexing. Spamdexing is the promotion of irrelevant, chiefly commercial, pages through various deceptive techniques and the abuse of the search algorithms. Unfortunately it often gets confused with white hat search engine optimization techniques, which do not involve deceit. Spamming involves getting websites more exposure than they deserve for their keywords, leading to unsatisfactory search results. Optimization involves getting websites the rank they deserve on the most targeted keywords, leading to satisfactory search experiences. One example of spamdexing is link farming. Link farming can be basically defined as any group of web pages that all link to every other page in the group. Another common practice is listing well-liked keywords in fine print or in the same color as the background so they can't be seen by users. These were only a few examples but there are many other deceptive practices that may be employed by black hat SEOs.

So how can you tell the difference between Black and White SEO practices?

A very easy way to distinguish between the two is though the amount of time involved in getting the desired results. White hat SEOs use methods that produce results slowly over time and only after a worthy deal of effort has been put into the site. Black hat SEOs offer you quick and easy results most, if not all, of which will obtained through deceptive practices.

Jennifer Kothe is the talented marketing coordinator at Internet Traffic Solutions (http://www.itsontarget.com) which is a full service marketing agency that offers clients a profitable way to get the attention of their target audience online. Article Source: http://www.ArticleBiz.com

Rate This Article Rating Saved!

Keywords:

search methods engines black white site rankings engine using results

Related Articles:

Blog Search Engine Optimisation 7 Simple Steps to an Optimized Website Optimize Your Site to Enhance Web Ranking Boost Your Web Rating with Optimization Techniques How to Market your Products or Services Using the Internet Modernization of the Search Engines Google Loses Market Share in July 6 Simple Steps For A Search Engine Optimization Strategy ExactSeek Explained Part 1 Revised Make Money With Top Paying Keywords The 10 Biggest Search Engine Optimization Mistakes 1 Wrong Keywords Getting The Top Result In Search Engine With Successful Marketing Is Harder But Not Impossible Resources you can use to promote your online business Breaking the Myth about Page Rank PR How to Help Google Make up its Mind 10 Great things NOT to do with Google AdSense A Smart Trick for Attracting Higher Paying AdSense Ads Meet Adwords AdSenses Fraternal Twin Tips for maximizing Your Google AdSense Revenues 10 Inside Secrets to Google Adwords Part 1 How to Make a Sitemap For Your Website In Five Steps Picking Keywords for SEO A Different View 4 Tricks For Lightning Fast Indexing The Trust Quotient Is Your Website Ranking High on Trustworthiness Part 2 Uncomplicated Website Search Engine Positioning

Home | Browse | Most Popular | Highest Rated | Contact
US City Home
Copyright © 2008 Find Some Articles - findsomearticles.com. All rights reserved.