What is White Hat SEO?


white-hat-seo-300x188 What is White Hat SEO?Search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the practice of using specific strategies and techniques to rank a given webpage higher in online search engine results. SEO techniques can be either white hat or black hat. This terminology is easier to understand if you are familiar with vintage western movies; the good guys always wear white hats and the bad guys wear black ones. White hat SEO techniques follow guidelines laid out by the search engine, while black hat SEO uses unethical strategies.

Why You Should Use White Hat Strategies

There are a number of black hat techniques that can result in your website being banned by search engines: invisible text that matches your webpage background, keyword stuffing, buying links, and link spamming just some of them. Unethical SEO also damages credibility with potential clients who land on your page. Credibility is difficult to reestablish and may require a change of domain or even brand name.

 

seo-elements-300x224 What is White Hat SEO?Ethical, white hat SEO is in your best interests. Done correctly, SEO can ensure that your website provides clear, relevant content to searchers, connects with your desired client base, and has a streamlined, appealing design. Searchers subconsciously assign more authority to sites that load quickly, are easy to navigate, and provide valuable information. When these elements harmonize, clients are more likely to return to your site for additional information and take advantage of the goods and services you offer.

 

 

How Search Engines Rank Pages

In the early days of search engine optimization, achieving top ranking for your page required keyword stuffing – repeated use of specific keywords and their variants.

As technology has evolved, modern search engines have become more sophisticated with the use of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

They study what searchers are looking for and algorithmically match queries with the pages that provide the best content for the query. To do this, they develop algorithms that rate websites on a number of factors. Google uses more than 200 ranking factors spanning technical compliance to search engine guidelines, content, authority signals and user behavior after they visit your website.

There are many factors that search engines consider when looking for webpages to feature. Some of these include:

  • Clean page layouts,
  • Web page load time,
  • Structured data markup
  • Titles, headings and sub-headings,
  • Metadata – embedded descriptions and tags,
  • Distribution of content on the page
  • Bounce rates – how long people stay on your page,
  • Engagement – how people consume the content, share, like, rate it, and
  • Authority –how popular your content is – who links to it, how they link to it, etc.

There are many in-depth articles published on search ranking factors including the Moz search ranking factors and the Search Metrics Ranking Factors.

How to ensure your website uses White Hat SEO

The ultimate goal of SEO is for the optimized webpage to appear on the first page of results for the search engine being used, ideally as a featured or highlighted answer. To ensure this happens in a sustained, search friendly way, you should take as many of the following steps as possible:

 

white-hat-seo-process What is White Hat SEO?Comply with search engine guidelines

It is important to study and comply with guidelines published by search engines. Google Webmaster Guidelines is a good starting point. Besides educating you about techniques to avoid, these guidelines also provide useful guides to what you should do including:

  • Best practices like page load time optimization, creation of sitemaps, etc.,
  • Integrating emerging technologies like structured data markup, accelerated mobile pages (AMP),
  • Mobile optimization
  • Local and International optimization
  • Handling of images, video, and more

Create Quality Content

Quality content is top priority. Without it, engagement rates go down and so does your search result ranking. Make sure your content is original and doesn’t infringe on the copyright of other sites. Use correct grammar and spelling. Prove legitimacy to prospective clients by providing authoritative knowledge about the subject being discussed.

Use Keywords Sparingly

Overuse of keywords can result in your webpage being flagged as spam by search engine web crawlers. Titles and subheadings are great places to use keywords, but avoid repetitive phrases within the text whenever possible. Instead of worrying about keywords, think about themes that your target audience would care about and provide useful content on those themes.

Always Consider Your Audience

Get to know your target market. In addition to factors like age, income level and interests, also consider what challenges clients face that your goods and services solve for them. The prevalence of social media today means that potential customers are looking for more than a place to shop – they’re looking for personal connection and community. Include both in your web design and content to organically increase engagement and customer loyalty.

Use Social Media to Your Advantage

Make it easy for searchers to engage with your content by providing direct links for sharing on sites like Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, and Google+. While it isn’t necessary for your company to have a web presence on every social media platform, it is a good idea to pick two or three as your focus. Scheduling apps like HootSuite can help you analyze and organize posts throughout the day or week.

Links are useful but…

While spamming your webpage with multiple incoming or outgoing links is strictly black hat, a well-crafted link or two can help illuminate challenging concepts or provide potential customers with valuable information. For example, an outdoor sports retailer might include an imbedded YouTube video on tying flies in an article about fishing, as well as a link to a travel article on popular fishing destinations around the country. If you focus on technical compliance, quality content and user engagement, and if your visitors find the content useful, they will share it and link to it and your website will build authority organically over time.

Flying Cow Design Can Help

In a nutshell, white hat SEO provides searchers with authoritative, readable, and well-designed websites.  If you are looking for innovative web solutions that showcase the best your company has to offer, contact Flying Cow Design today and put our team to work for you!

fb50c5bf790872a8ecad33a6bd15d358?s=100&d=mm&r=g What is White Hat SEO?

CEO, Flying Cow Design
Attended University of Auckland
Lives in San Francisco Bay Area

October 14th, 2016


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