Hi all, White hat vs. black hat is terminology to describe a variety of SEO methods. It’s a play on the old western scenario where the good guy wears a white hat, and the bad guy wears a black hat. The white hat vs. black hat debate is common among webmasters and SEO specialists. With competition for high page rankings getting hotter each day, more webpage creators are weighing the benefits of white hat vs. black hat tactics. As an SEO analyst which method you would like to prefer and reason for choose that technique......
im fed up of so called white hat seo guys whining that black hat seo is so unethical but yet the white hat guy after optimizing the site onsite... then goes off and starts getting thousands of backlinks by posting on related blogs, high pr rank sites, etc, etc so let me get this straight, back in the day people used a white hat method to tell google how important their site was by using keywords in the meta tags... but then people began to abuse this and start stuffing the tags with 100's of keywords in order to get better position on google due to a loophole in the system, people then considered this to be blackhat... but the loophole soon got closed same thing with linkfarms and link directories, google soon started slapping all of the people buying links, etc so as to artificially increase their sites popularity to rank better in the serps so you really think that getting thousands of backlinks from blogs and articles sites that you submit yourself isnt any different from just trying to exploit yet another loophole in googles system... i dont think so i would advise anyone not to be naive enough to not think that google possibly one day could slap everyone for trying to trick google with all these BS backlinks if you think getting backlinks is whitehat - think again all you are doing is trying to exploit a known loophole that currently works and has done for a while that can get you great results to me if you try and trick google in any manner to improve your ranking your heading towards the realms of blackhat.... people need to start thinking out of the box and coming up with their own methods, and yes other exploits... if you stick with real white hat seo ie onsite optimization your going to get burried under everyone else's results... do what you think is right its upto you to decide if its ethical or not - for me i dont give a sh#t what people think, i do what works for me....
These aren't the white hat guys... These are dark gray/black hat guys pretending to be white hat. Yep you're right... These again are not the white hat guys that get penalized when Google shuts the door on these. The white hat guys weren't counting on stuffing <meta> keywords elements or building linkfarms... so such a change by Google really doesn't tend to hurt their rankings. It's the dark gray/blackhat guys that were abusing the system and led to the changes in the algo. And it is they who suffer most when changes like these occur. Again... the whitehat guys aren't out their spamming blogs and forum to get thousands of backlinks. It's the gray/black hat guys because their sites don't have the quality of content to attract those links naturally or they don't have any type of following of people who would want to write about or link to them... I get backlinks all the time... in true whitehat fashion... People want to link to one of our sites because we have spent hundreds of millions of dollars over 10+ years building a brand. 85% of US households know our brand and slogan. I don't have to beg for links. They come freely. We announce a new product and sites all over the web start linking to that product page. I don't have to come up with some scheme of embedding hyperlinks inside of desciptions in our RSS feeds to get backlinks through syndication or spamming blogs/forums for links. Technically I agree... I guess even on-page SEO techniques could be deemed as "blackhat", since by definition SEO means you are trying to manipulate your rankings... But that is why Google makes the on-page factors minor in comparison to off-page factors in their algo. But a lot of on-page SEO has grown from techniques originally done to improve the user experience. The SEO benefits are just a side effect... an added bonus. Breadcrumbs are a great example. I put them on all of my sites. They help users know where they are on the site at any point in time. The key here is anytime I'm faced with a decision of doing it one way to improve the user experience (but get less SEO benefit) or doing it another way where I benefit greatly from an SEO perspective (but the user experience sucks), I always try to error on the side of making it a better user experience. The blackhat SEO would almost always pick SEO benefit over user experience... By erroring on the side of a better user experience in these situations, it almost always works out long term to also be good for SEO since Google's algorithm is based on the same premise... giving the user a good experience where they find the info they are looking for... not spam. This I don't agree with... I do admit it's easier for larger well known sites to gain backlinks without using 'blackhat' techniques. But even a new site can get quality backlinks legitimately. It takes more time w/ whitehat techniques than with blackhat techniques. The blackhat guys because of their impatience may jump to the top of the rankings using their spam techniques, but soon Google will shut those loopholes and they'll be starting all over looking for some other exploit. The whitehat guys will not even see a blip on their radar. I think whether you use whitehat or blackhat techniques should depend on several things like is your domain/site disposable? By this I mean, are you willing to abandon your site if your site gets flagged untrusted at Google or banned from their index and have to start all over building a new site? This is also related do you want your site to remain a viable site for the long-term or are you only concerned with short-term gains? If you're a legitimate business that sells it's own products, has a brand to protect, etc. then I strongly recommend you take the more whitehat approach... But if you're an opportunistic affiliate with no brand to protect who is only concerned with making profits here and now and you're landing pages/affiliate sites are disposible, have at it... But know that your time in the SERPs is probably limited... As the old saying goes, you can pay me now, or pay me later. You can put a lot of work into your site upfront for a few years so that it prospers down the road. Or you can take the easy way out using easy spam techniques an be rewarded today, but not last into the future. It's the classic tortus and hare race... I hardly doubt anyone here cares or is trying to judge you. It's different strokes for different strokes. What is right for you, might be wrong for my business and visa versa.
The use of the term "black hat" in SEO is made by people who have lost in the SEO game. Only the SEs have the right to object to techniques being used and it is their responsibility only to punish or allow that technique.
wow..what a controversal disscusion.. I think that it is a matter of G to solve all these problems with white and black guys because G sets rules of this game and our atitude hasn't any influence. If you are possessed about these terms - i don't see any problem here because I think that this is just a cliche.
'black hat' is google's way of saying:- 'We dont like you doing that, but we haven't figured out how to automatically trap it yet. So as its impossible to manually catch it all, we'll bluff you by threatening dire consequences if you do it'. Thinks chemical Ali, think Baghdad airport, think bull. Of course, when they find a way to trap it automatically, it's no longer 'black hat', it's just 'stupid' (like keyword stuffing, or link exchanges).
@Canonical excellant post - good points! your spot on about making quality sites, for a minute i forgot that people still create those! it was unfair of me to say you will get buried from the sense your talking about your completely right. however i was more referring to the smaller businesses and the moms and pops stores, if you leave yourself to get backlinks too you naturally, perhaps over a very long time you may start doing well but when other people are using whatever means to get ranked by exploiting googles algorithms initially, you could be out of your online business before you even get started....
I vote for Black Hat because White Hat consume too much energy. If something can be automated, then why not? Enjoy your life
Just started to dabble in SEO and just my opinion, but if you're thinking Google and long term white hat is the way to go. You may get ranked for a few weeks using "blackhat" techniques, but when you're caught you'll be penalized. And those countless hours building backlinks and promoting your site will be lost. If it's "black hat" and has a negative affect on the visitor experience (not relevant content) either Google will catch up with you and penalize your site or another white hat webmaster will report you, and Google will penalize your site. That's what makes the Google searchengine so popular. Their searches provide the visitor with quality relevant content. If not, the visitors will go away and the advertisers will follow. The big 8 from the nineties are no more. Google got to be number one by providing quality searches, the big 8 slowly deteriorated because the lack of quality searches. If you use "tricks" to fool the Google and you are caught (either by Google or competing webmasters) your site will be penalized. That being said if your site does provide quality content and you're caught using "black hat" techniques I believe that Google won't be as harsh.
For Example: If you have a Company Website that you wants to continue then don't go for black hat..as if site get banned then this will fall your company reputation.....
Black Hat is for making money quickly and then moving on when your site gets banned...White Hat is used for building a reputable site.....I always go white hat...it takes longer but i never have to worry about the day when my sites get banned. PS I have had alot of success with white hat......following Google Guidelines
so how would you go about building an seo campaign for it? just hope people will find it in the serps? or would you start building backlinks via blogs and social media? just curious..
You made nice point actually website with great content/services don't really need offsite optimization. And people who try to build artificial backlinks are just doing the blackhat only..maybe they are putting effort so they call it ethical.....
hi, I suggest White Hat SEO is is more better then Black Hat SEO. Google is also crawled white hat seo tips based website.
I don't fully understand why someone would like to risk domain or IP banning for a short period of high traffic. Yes they can make money, but will "loose" a domain name for 2-3 years or more because some search engines will not index it anymore and they will pay for banned IP.
This is certainly a hot topic and depending on who you talk to you will get a different response. Using black hat techniques will certainly rank your website higher and faster in SERP's, however you do risk the possibility that Google will catch on to your tactics and remove you from their index! White Hat SEO requires more work and more patience but the outcome is longer lasting if done the right way! Also using black hat SEO techniques is unethical especially if you are using them to realize the marketing goals of your clients. Just knowing that if you get caught using Black Hat tactics may cause your clients or your own website to be banned from Google is a huge risk and an ethical dilemma. In conclusion i can proudly say that after practicing White Hat methodology for many years, it is a clear winner in my eyes and should be the benchmark for anyone trying to get ranked on the first page of Search Engine. Elite SEO Marketing Alex