Difference between White Hat and Black Hat SEO

When it comes to white hat and black hat SEO, the name says it all! White hat SEO obviously complies with the set rules of promoting websites as dictated by the search engines. Whereas, black hat SEO is the process of exploiting and manipulating certain possibilities that are viewed seriously by the search engines. In fact, the very name SEO is considered devilish by many website owners! They argue that any attempt to manipulate the contents of a website to influence ranking is unfair and feel neither white hat nor black hat SEO is ethically good.

Even the allowed techniques of optimizing web pages to rank high in search engines evoke a mixed response from the website owners and webmasters. However, search engines are designed to work in that pattern so it leaves you with no other choice but to optimize your website for search engines. Interestingly the irony is all those who still argue against SEO have themselves optimized their own websites for search engines!

Most of the techniques in white hat SEO are also followed in black hat SEO but with subtle changes that are not legal as far as search engines are concerned. A few examples of black hat SEO techniques will enlighten you on the various tricks involved in black hat SEO. For instance, optimizing web pages with relevant keywords is purely a white hat SEO technique. On the contrary black hat optimization would use the same technique but in a different manner, i.e., by keyword stuffing, invisible text, and doorway pages. This certainly can fool the search engines but not every time. With machines getting smarter by the day search engines can detect such techniques. If your website had followed any of the black hat SEO techniques, it can be penalized or even banned by the search engines.

It is always wise to comply with the set rules while optimizing your website for search engines. If you are not confident about the techniques, you have at hand, do get assistance from professionals that can help you achieve your desired goals.