SEO refers to the process by which quality and volume of traffic to a site can be improved. Higher rankings on search engine results pages naturally result in more visitors to the website. The importance of search engines such as Google is undeniable, making SEO a marketing strategy that is greatly sought after.

There are two different techniques that can be used to improve the search engine rankings, Black hat SEO and White hat SEO.

What is Black hat SEO?

Black hat SEO will basically try improving the rankings of a site or page using ways that may not be approved by the search engines. It involves some form of deception, going against the guidelines of the current search engines. The long-term results are usually negative, including site being banned or punished by lower rankings.

What is White hat SEO?

White hat SEO on the other hand, refers to the utilization of good and acceptable practice methods in order to attain high rankings on search engines. Every action falls within the search engine guidelines. The results of this type of SEO are usually long lasting.

Black hat SEO and White hat SEO techniques

Black hat SEO usually has a characteristic of breaking the rules and regulations of search engines and creating a very poor user experience. Its results are however, very quick, making it a great short-term solution to organic search traffic. Some of the techniques used are;

• Spamdexing

This refers to the repetition of phrases that are non-related in an attempt to manipulate the prominence and relevancy of the resources indexed by search engines.

• Invisible text

Keywords are placed in white text on a background that is also white, attracting the search engine spiders.

• Keyword stuffing

It’s the inclusion of a long list of keywords which don’t have any proper formation.

• Invisible iFrames

The page that the user see doesn’t necessarily belong to the webpage hosting company. They can be used for background software download without the user’s knowledge.

• Doorway pages

This is a page which is actually fake and the user will never get to see.

White hat SEO on the other hand, focuses on creation of content for users and not for the search engines. In addition to following all SEO guidelines, it ensures what a human user will see is the exact same content that is indexed by the search engine. Relevance of content, readability, content structure and quality are some of the main techniques that must be worked on. Cross –linking pages within the website as well as building inbound links that are relevant and from trusted sources is also common.