Given how much of a business’s traffic originates online, search engine optimization (SEO) is high stakes. And as with anything where success can make or break your fiscal year, there is a temptation to use tricks and take shortcuts to see results.
It is this temptation that gives us two categories of SEO in Cumming: white hat and black hat.
White Hat vs. Black Hat SEO
White hat SEO is a term that refers to techniques that have Google’s seal of approval. And, as a default, they typically also have the approval of other engines as well. These techniques are considered to be above board and allow websites to rank well but do so fairly.
Black hat SEO refers to optimization techniques that go against the terms and conditions outlined by search engines. These “tricks” are meant to manipulate algorithms to help pages land higher in search results. While these sometimes do deliver results in the short-term, in the long-term, they tend to result in websites being blacklisted.
White Hat SEO Techniques
To better illustrate the good and the bad, let’s look at some specific strategies, starting with white hat SEO techniques:
- Create High-Quality, Interesting Content: Your SEO content writing strategy is a great way to rank up in search engine results. Both Google and readers love informative content that is well written and flows naturally. Just make sure it is original.
- Focus on On-Page SEO: This references addressing SEO elements on individual landing pages. Think enhancing meta descriptions and titles, tags, adding quality links, and incorporating keywords without stuffing them.
- Get Quality Backlinks: Backlinks are those originating on other sites that send visitors your way. This are very helpful when it comes to SEO, but they need to be on high-quality sites, otherwise they can actually harm your ranking.
- Focus on Technical Aspects: What kinds of technical aspects? Think page loading speed, mobile display, and errors that prevent indexing.
All of these are strategies that can improve your Cumming SEO without angering Google.
Black Hat SEO Techniques
Now we get into the tricks to avoid: the black hat SEO techniques. Some common ones include:
- Keyword Stuffing: Essentially, this is where you shove keywords into your content without a care for the organic feel of it in hopes that Google will associate your page with a search term.
- Plagiarism: It is easy to assume that if the content on a page is ranking well, you could rank just as well by copying it. However, this is a big no-no with Google.
- Gateway Pages: These are pages meant to funnel people making certain searches to other pages.
- Cloaking: With this black hat technique, you show search engines different content than you give to actual readers.
- Negative SEO: This refers to any techniques used to harm competitors.
