We have been discussing Black Hat SEO over the past few classes for Search Engine Optimization and I have been thinking of times that I have noticed websites with an irrelevant number of keywords thrown into the page, but I wanted to flip the switch and look at White Hat SEO and what the best practices are. The thought in my mind was to think back and remember if there were any websites/ landing pages that I have come across that I have noticed White Hat SEO tactics being used and I feel that the reason for not being able to remember any specific pages is because they look natural and flow flawlessly. I wanted to dig deeper and research more on White Hat SEO and I found the article White Hat SEO Techniques: Everything You Need To Know by Will Morris on “Elegant Themes” website. In this article, Morris presents six techniques for White Hat SEO and four out of the six make sense for why it should be hard to point out specific White Hat practices. Websites that are built with White Hat techniques at the forefront of the blueprint should have content that is unique, relevant, and quality (technique two). In addition, keywords should be placed strategically and organically (technique three), user intent should be understood (technique four), and the user experience should be positive (technique five). With these four techniques in mind, it makes sense for pages to be seen as credible in the users’ mind because the content is applicable and relevant and unique to their search intent and the website is responsive and runs smoothly. Adding on to my point, there is also this sense that the content of the page is natural and organic because the are no obvious patterns or repetition of keywords. My question to you is if you can recall any websites that you have looked at recently that clearly have Black Hat SEO techniques or struggle to hit these four techniques?
For More Information, check out the article that I read:
https://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/wordpress/white-hat-seo-techniques-tactics
3 Responses
Hi, I think you did a good job pointing out white hat techniques because they can sometimes be hard to identify. We know how to look out for black hat practices, but sometimes best practices in SEO are assumed, even though understanding user intent is important to the integrity of the website.
I really like the point you made about how websites built with white hat techniques have content that is unique and relevant. Content should be cohesive and complete for the user! This was really well done highlighting the positives of SEO practices
You raise a great point, that when SEO is done right, it is virtually unnoticeable, but on the flip side, it can be so obvious when sites are using Black Hat SEO, or no SEO all together. Its hard for me to even think back to those sites that fall into the negative category, because so often I click out of them right away when I realize they are not what I am looking for.