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Six Hats of SEO?

Discussion in 'Search Engine Optimization' started by coolguy27, May 11, 2007.

  1. #1
    I have just encountered a site that tells about the six types of SEO...


    * The White Hat, symbolizing facts and hard data. For example, we state that our conversion rate is low. We state that the number of users is dropping. What we're stating here is mostly the question we're trying to answer. Why is the conversion rate so low? Why are visitors not coming or not returning?

    * The Red Hat, symbolizing emotions. Here we start making hypotheses about what's going on, but only on an emotional level. Continuing with our examples, our conversion rate is low because we're not connecting to the needs of the visitors. For our decreasing traffic, perhaps our visitors do not feel part of a community. This will be important if you run a forum or a very social Web 2.0 site.

    * The Black Hat, which is the color of a judge's robe. Think negatively and critically here. Perhaps our sever is overloaded or the sales page takes too long to load. Our low conversion rate could be to bad targeting, perhaps we're using the wrong keywords. Our visitors are leaving because there are bullies in our community. Again, we state facts and implications of our original question, but as suggestions for potential answers.

    * The Yellow Hat, where we talk about sunny, happy, positive things. Hey, we're converting badly but at least it's not costing us much. Too many conversions mean we'll need a much bigger tech support group. Perhaps the drop in traffic means we're left with the most loyal and vocal user base. A smaller community is easier to manage. The point here is to think of the good things coming out of your problem, but try to find an angle that you can exploit.

    * The Green Hat, where you let your mind roam wide and free in endless pastures looking for solutions. Here is when you relax and explicitely think about solutions, ideally using a creative idea generation technique. What happens if you ask your dwindling community to redesign your site? What can we do differently? MUST we use these keywords? Are our moderators part of the problem?

    * Finally, the Blue Hat (advance SEO and marketing), your sky-high big-picture view of the problem. What did we learn? What can we do? Where do we go from here? Write up a little summary of this exercise. Engage with those who you think are part of the problem or are potentially part of the solutions.


    Bonus two hats: for fun ;)

    * The Propeller Hats are the techies who think the best technical solution wins. They moan when we talk about website usability.
    * The Tinfoil Hats are those that believe that Google is evil.

    :eek: is this true? These are the categories of SEO that I know. The 4 Types of SEO: White, Black, Blue and Gray...

    Give me some comments regarding this stuffs.. Thanks...:D
     
    coolguy27, May 11, 2007 IP
    flash9 likes this.
  2. jabier

    jabier Peon

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    #2
    Nice article :)

    For me there will be ONLY two models : White hat and black hat. But the SEO things can not be modeled or categorized into black or hat.

    If you do SEO as what we're all doing here, you absolutely know that it's Gray....


    Cheers,
     
    jabier, May 11, 2007 IP
  3. datasolution

    datasolution Banned

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    #3
    nice post....:)
     
    datasolution, May 11, 2007 IP
  4. igme

    igme Banned

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    #4
    A very informative one. Thats cool.
     
    igme, May 11, 2007 IP
  5. jdrohn74

    jdrohn74 Peon

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    #5
    Nice article and oh so true. I especially like the tinfoil hat comparison!
     
    jdrohn74, May 11, 2007 IP
  6. Phlegm Jar

    Phlegm Jar Peon

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    #6
    It's actually modelled on Edward de Bono's '6 thinking hats'. Do a search on your favourite search engine and you'll find tons of info about it. You can apply the reasoning to just about any endeavour you undertake. It's very interesting reading.

    Phlegm...
     
    Phlegm Jar, May 11, 2007 IP
  7. BigBadWolf

    BigBadWolf Well-Known Member

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    #7
    SEO is SEO, its all got one intention, manipulate the algorithms to rank your website higher.
     
    BigBadWolf, May 11, 2007 IP
    ErectADirectory likes this.
  8. pirate101

    pirate101 Peon

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    #8
    There's only 2, black and white, one doing the ethical and the other unethical. :)
     
    pirate101, May 11, 2007 IP
  9. boyponga

    boyponga Banned

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    #9
    Good interpretation, but SEO is about strategies, whatever your hat is, you do anything as long as your site is not harmed in any ways.
     
    boyponga, May 11, 2007 IP
  10. jl255

    jl255 Well-Known Member

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    #10
    humorous and insightful article, but think u shld credit the authors for it ;)
     
    jl255, May 11, 2007 IP
  11. sipltech

    sipltech Well-Known Member

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    #11
    nice one :)

    I wish I should have all the "hats" with me :D
     
    sipltech, May 11, 2007 IP
  12. pogung177

    pogung177 Well-Known Member

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    #12
    SEO is skill.... Color is part of art. So if you combine both of them thats mean you work with your own soul.
     
    pogung177, May 11, 2007 IP
  13. Ardrigh

    Ardrigh Peon

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    #13
    Nice one! So there really are tin foil hats...
     
    Ardrigh, May 11, 2007 IP
  14. YoungMaster

    YoungMaster Peon

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    #14
    Cool. Thanks for posting that. But could we get a link to the original article? I would like to check that out also.
     
    YoungMaster, May 11, 2007 IP
  15. ouromarketing

    ouromarketing Peon

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    #15
    Good!

    For myself, I'm Blue/Tinfoil ;)
     
    ouromarketing, May 11, 2007 IP
  16. flash9

    flash9 Banned

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    #16
    very informative read. thanks for sharing that. green reps from me ;).
     
    flash9, May 11, 2007 IP
  17. skinner

    skinner Guest

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    #17
    We're getting pretty colorful in the SEO world aren't we? :)
     
    skinner, May 16, 2007 IP