Did you know that 75% of internet users never go past the first page of search engine results pages (SERPs)? This means that if you haven’t optimized your website, there’s a good chance many users haven’t discovered it yet!
But instead of lamenting over lost traffic, start considering what you can do to boost your business. One common tactic used to push sites to the top of SERPs is search engine optimization (SEO). Within this strategy, there are 2 types: white and black hat SEO.
What is black hat SEO? Is it a good or bad thing? Read on to find out!
What Is Black Hat SEO?
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Black hat SEO is the shady cousin of white hat SEO. Basically, you’ll “cheat” to push your website to the top of SERPs. Techniques include keyword stuffing, low-quality content that’s been spun from existing content, hidden text, and negative SEO (sending unnatural links to a competitor’s website to try and get them penalized).
However, these fantastic results are only temporary. Once Google finds out what you’re doing, you’ll be penalized heavily for it. Not only can they derank your website, but they can also completely remove you from their results!
As you can see, black hat SEO won’t provide good long-term results and can eliminate you from search engines, so you should avoid it. Instead, opt for white hat SEO.
What Is White Hat SEO?
White hat SEO is using approved SEO methods to climb SERPs. As a result, you can increase organic traffic, which means there’s a better chance of bringing in relevant customers.
Honestly, it’ll probably take longer to see results. But because the strategies used are 100% approved by search engines (such as Google), you won’t have to worry about being penalized at all!
White hat SEO strategies include fast website loading times, mobile-friendliness, excellent user experience, rich keywords, and high-quality content.
If all this sounds confusing to you, or like it’s too much work to handle on your own, then not to worry. The SEO world is constantly changing and there are many nuances to it, so it’s best if you seek the services of professionals instead.
There are many SEO specialists out there that can tailor their services to your company and keep everything above board. They’ll monitor your core web vitals to ensure that your website not only ranks high, but stays there too!
Always Use Good SEO Practices
So what is black hat SEO? It’s an unethical practice that aims to rank websites fast.
But it only produces short-term results. Ultimately, you’ll see negative consequences for your site, so don’t even consider it.
By understanding black hat SEO, you now know that the only reasonable method to use is white hat SEO. If you find a reputable company to help you with it, then you’ll only succeed!
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