Google algorithms keep changing throughout the year. This allows Google to detect any loopholes or unethical practices followed by website makers to gain website traffic and higher conversion rates without adding value.
To ensure that all your efforts in creating a permanent ranking for your website do not go in vain, you must know what are the different SEO tactics and how to differentiate the ethical practices from the malicious ones so that you do not fall into a trap at any cost.
You can ensure that your website is following all ethical SEO strategies and focuses on improving user experience, get in touch with professional Brisbane SEO services from Australian Internet Marketing. You can start with their free SEO diagnostic services and see for yourself how these expert SEO consultants can change the face of your website to help you receive long-term ROI.
White hat SEO tactics
When you follow SEO strategies that are ethical and follow the Google guidelines stringently, such strategies are called White hat SEO strategies and are important for the long-term success of any website. Some of the white hat tactics that professional SEO use to gain organic traffic are:
- Use of HTML and avoiding HTTP errors.
- Creating content that is relevant and adds value to the life of the users.
- Using industry-specific keywords and placing them naturally throughout your content.
- Making page titles that make sense and are unique at the same time.
- Using well-labeled, high-quality images or videos in the contents. You can also use keywords smartly in the image description.
- Making your website mobile interface friendly.
- Using tools to ensure that your users and Google bots get to experience faster loading speeds at all times on your website.
Black hat SEO tactics
When you want to get a higher search engine ranking faster by any means and you deploy malicious SEO tactics to achieve the same, it is called the black hat SEO strategy. It is the exact opposite of a white hat and should be avoided if you want long-term success for your website.
Some of the black hat tactics that are condoned by Google are:
- Abusing the use of irrelevant rich snippets.
- Using copy, duplicate, and plagiarised content.
- Using content that is irrelevant and unrelated to your industry.
- Again, obtaining backlinks that are irrelevant and unrelated is also a black hat SEO tactic.
- Using an affiliate program platform to promote your website that adds no value to the user experience.
- Using heavily searched keywords to manipulate backend codes.
- Inappropriately stuffing the content with irrelevant keywords.
- Paying for bulk purchase of backlinks to get to a higher ranking faster.
Gray hat SEO tactics
It is the hybrid of the 2 tactics mentioned above and is not completely unethical. You may or may not be condoned by Google while following Gray hat strategies. You might be successful in using them today but might get penalized after some time.
It is also called gray hat SEO practice when you mix white and black hat tactics to some extent. Some of the gray hat tactics are:
- Submitting links of your website to directories.
- Creating microsites or doorway pages.
3 consequences of violating Google-approved SEO rules
When you follow black hat or gray hat tactics to reach the top quickly, you will get caught sooner or later. In such a scenario, your website could face:
- Blacklisting:
- This is the result of using unethical black hat tactics.
- All your efforts at artificially achieving a higher search engine ranking get undone if you are blacklisted from receiving visibility in the search results.
- Temporary tanking:
- If you are continuously found involved in black hat practices, Google temporarily lowers your website’s ranking.
- This will be done till the time you fix all the unethical issues and restart your campaign using white hat ethical means.
- Getting penalized:
- Both black and gray hat practices can get you penalized by Google.
- Manual reviews by Google’s spam check team identify loopholes and malicious intent and penalize your website unless you address the issue promptly.
Although, white hats might look risky initially as it can take months and sometimes years to obtain a good Google ranking, using black or gray hat strategies has more risks associated with getting penalized or blacklisted. In that case, you will lose your ranking eventually.
Also, by using ethical white hat SEO, you ensure that your success is long-term and your website is not a quick revenue-generating machine as is the case with black and gray hat SEO practices which are mostly short-lived.
