White Hat SEO – Build For The User

Not all SEO is created equal. When we talk about SEO, we assume that all SEO is all good. Some SEO is actually a shade of gray and other SEO is outright black hat and unashamed of it.  Black Hat SEO tactics tare those which are banned and they can take your site right down for using them if you are caught. While some webmasters like to dabble in it and play around the edges, it’s best just to avoid anything that could be construed as shades of gray, and use only white hat initiatives that you know are safe.

It makes no difference if you have outsourced your SEO, are doing it on your own or are following the advice of one of the many self proclaimed “gurus” out there,  you need to watch your back and not get greedy for quick results with black hat when it will cost you dearly in the long run. Using black hat SEO is not the answer.  You will only hurt your site, and could end up penalized severely for trying to game the search engines. Google and even Bing do not take being tricked with a grain of salt.

Paying for links doesn‘t work out, nor does spamming search engines, blogs or forums, paying for dishonest reviews, linking to disreputable mass linking schemes, using white on white text, keyword stuffing or other activities. It’s just not worth it.Eventually you always get caught and pay a hefty price.

Concentrating your efforts on the time proved business of organic linking, article marketing and judicious social book-marking is always the better option. it all starts with quality optimized content.  Produce plenty of relevant, informational content and carve out a niche for yourself of which you are the leading expert. If you do that, links will find you. It takes more time, but it pays better dividends.

What you need to focus on are articles, press releases, web content, blogging, Squidoo lenses, Knols, videos graphics and other types of content can be optimized with a common goal – making the signposts on the web point to you as the most relevant result in your field. This is how solid organic link building is built. Authority links are valued, and if you are the authority, by proxy, your content and sit have higher value.

In order to do this you have to put in the proper research.  Choose a niche, find long tail keywords, run an effective ad campaign, and optimize content for any affiliates you might wish to partner with. This all lends to building your online credibility and making the spiders that crawl your site light up with delight.

Oing all of this is by no means easy. Even if you are outsourcing, you need to follow up on everything to make sure it is exactly as it should be. Even the best companies can make a mistake now and then. You want to be sure that they are not using any uncertified methods to get fast results and make you pleased with their work, only to be banned three months later! That wastes all of your time, money and credibility.

Now that you better understand white and black hat SEO, you can ask yourself every time you get ready to do something new, “Is this relevant? Is it helpful? Anything that helps the USER is usually a good thing. Google in particular will reward you for giving the user what they want. If you follow the best practices, you can build a solid foundation for your site. Anything else is bound to crumble away. White hat SEO is the ONLY approved way to build a site! That is one SEO constant you can take to the bank!