- Apr 25, 2011
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The terms white hat and black hat are used to describe the type of tactics used to optimize a website for the search engines. At the extreme ends of the scale, White hat SEO is typically thought of as the more ethical approach, and one that abides by the search engines’ terms of service, but also the one that takes the longest to see results from. Black hat SEO is thought of as a far more underhand approach, one that does not mind circumnavigating the rules, and thus provides faster results.
To understand the real difference between these two types of SEO, as well as everything in between, it is important to understand exactly what SEO is as well as acknowledging exactly where these terms come from and who defines them in relation to internet marketing.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization and describes the process of tweaking your website so that it ranks higher in the search results.
For example, your website might be at position 5 in your favourite search engine for the phrase “how to make soup”. If you happen to know that search engines are using title tags to determine relevance then you might optimize your website by adding that phrase in to your title tags, which may result in your site moving up to position 3 for that phrase.
Where do the Terms White Hat and Black Hat Come From?
The terms white hat and black hat originate from the 1950s when they were used to describe characters in western films – the good guys would typically where white hats and the bad guys would wear black hats.
In more recent years the terms have been used to describe computer hackers – a black hat hacker would be someone who takes advantage of weaknesses in computer systems for their own benefit. A white hat hacker would be someone who carries out the same task, but for ethical reasons – for example, to notify the system owner of vulnerabilities within their system.
The digital marketing industry has since taken on these terms and used them to describe different types of SEO tactics.
What is White Hat SEO?
The most commonly used definition for white hat SEO is someone who follows the guidelines set out by the search engines.
So, let’s look at the guidelines for the top search engines.
Google have some webmaster guidelines available here. In these guidelines Google talk in detail about optimizing your website to improve its position within search results.
The guidelines talk exclusively about on page optimization techniques including:
· Creating unique page titles and meta descriptions
· Improving site structure
· Writing well-structured, informative and media rich content
· Optimizing for mobile devices
Bing have a similar set of guidelines published here. Bing talk about similar on-page optimization techniques including:
· Sitemap creation
· Page load time optimization
· Effective and sensible use of web technologies
· Canonical tagging
· Optimizing site structure
That’s the on-page stuff out of the way – we now know that if you are optimizing your website as per the guidelines outlined by the top search engines then you are being completely ethical in your approach to SEO and you can don your white hat without any fear of reprisal.
What about link building?
let’s talk about the elephant in the room – link building.
If you have been involved in the world of SEO for any length of time, then you probably know about the importance of backlinks. Google, for example, uses a proprietary system called PageRank which ranks websites based on the number of quality inbound links pointing to any given webpage. Most other search engines also use the number of quality inbound links as a key metric when deciding where to rank each webpage in their index.
That being the case, if you want to optimize your website for the search engines, and to appear at the top for your target keywords, then you need to consider inbound links as part of your strategy.
Where does Link Building Fit in to White Hat SEO?
This is where it gets interesting. If we use the most common definition of white hat SEO then we must do all our optimizing as per the search engine’s best practices. So, what do the search engines say about building links to improve search ranking?
Here’s what Google have to say on the topic of link building –
Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.
That’s right, any links that you build with a view to improving your website’s position in Google are against their terms of service.
Let’s see what Bing have to say about link building –
Abusive tactics that aim to inflate the number and nature of inbound links such as links buying, participating in link schemes (link farms, link spamming and excessive link manipulation) can lead to your site being delisted from the Bing index.
Not quite as forthright as Google, but it is still clear that Bing do not like anyone to build backlinks with a view to manipulating search results.
So, if we are following the best practices laid out by the search engines then we pretty much need to stop right here. There is no link building of any nature to be carried out unless we want to fall fowl of Google, Bing and most other search engines.
Sure, you can pretend that you are building backlinks purely to generate relevant traffic and that if your PageRank improves as a result then it’s pure coincidence, but who are you kidding?
However, if we draw from the original meaning of the terms black hat and white hat and we think about the ethics behind SEO then it might be a different story.
If we were to ask other fellow webmasters and community contacts to link to our website with a view to improving our own website ranking would that be unethical? Or if we were to pay to be listed in a local online directory knowing that we would get a backlink in return, would that be unethical?
The search engines would say yes, because it would be detrimental to their cause, but to any struggling webmaster, Probably not. So, if we define white hat SEO as simply being an ethical approach to search engine optimization then it is fair to say that we can build backlinks to our website, as well as encouraging others to link to our site, providing we are ethical in our approach.
A good rule of thumb here is to think about the human audience – if we convince site B to provide us with a backlink how is that going to affect the readers of site B’s content? Is it going to enhance or detract from their experience? Assuming our website is a valuable resource and is closely related to the content on site B then it is fair to assume the link will be of benefit to the user and thus the link we have built is ethical.
Some forms of link-building generally considered as ethical and thus falling into the category of white hat SEO are –
· Guest blogging – writing content for somebody else’s website with a view to getting an inbound backlink within that content
· Link baiting – Writing content that naturally incites people to link to your page from theirs. Some forms of link baiting include writing highly informative content, writing about topical news items and writing about controversial topics
· Participating in community discussions – for example on community forums or commenting on other blogs within the same niche
What is Black Hat SEO?
Black Hat SEO is often referred to as the use of underhand tactics to improve a website’s position in the search results and typically involve tactics that go against the best practices outlined by the search engines.
At the most extreme level black hat tactics have very little consideration for the human audience and are far more focused on delivering exactly what the search engine wants.
Some extreme black hat SEO tactics include –
· Low quality private blog networks
· Automated website creation
· Spun content
· Automated high-volume backlink creation (Using tools like GSA)
Moving away from the extreme, black hat SEO can also be classed as any tactics that are deliberately trying to manipulate the search engines to make the target website rank higher than it normally would.
Once again if we take the most common definition of Black Hat SEO – the use of tactics that fall fowl of the search engine’s terms of service – then we can say that any type of offsite SEO is black hat, this would include –
· Any form of link building
· Paid links
· Link exchanges
· Directory listings
· Content promotion
· Link-baiting
That’s right, anyone who is building backlinks, regardless of how ethical their approach to doing so may be, is technically partaking in black hat SEO. That includes pretty much every SEO agency you have ever heard of, and if you come across an agency who says backlinks are totally irrelevant and don’t play any part in their SEO strategy, well they are either lying or don’t know anything about SEO!
If we conclude that everyone in the SEO industry is partaking in some form of black hat SEO tactics, then maybe we need to redefine the meaning of black and white when it comes to SEO. In fact, maybe it’s really the search engines themselves who have told us what these phrases should mean. Perhaps though, the search engine’s idea of the proverbial bad guy in the western movie is different from ours.
If we forget about what the search engines would like us to do and think only about ethics (Seeing as it is ethics that the terms white hat and black hat were originally centred around) then we could completely redefine what constitutes black hat and white hat SEO.
What About Grey Hat SEO?
Grey hat SEO pretty much covers everything in between white hat and black hat. A grey hat SEO practitioner is someone who doesn’t want their SEO strategy to be defined by what the search engines say is right and wrong, but rather follows their own ethics, their own code of practice. Grey hat SEO means optimizing your website for the search engines, it means trying to gain an advantage over the search engines wherever possible. But it also means thinking about your visitors along the way, thinking about the ethics of each tactic that you employ and trying to find a happy medium.
To understand the real difference between these two types of SEO, as well as everything in between, it is important to understand exactly what SEO is as well as acknowledging exactly where these terms come from and who defines them in relation to internet marketing.
What is SEO?
SEO stands for search engine optimization and describes the process of tweaking your website so that it ranks higher in the search results.
For example, your website might be at position 5 in your favourite search engine for the phrase “how to make soup”. If you happen to know that search engines are using title tags to determine relevance then you might optimize your website by adding that phrase in to your title tags, which may result in your site moving up to position 3 for that phrase.
Where do the Terms White Hat and Black Hat Come From?
The terms white hat and black hat originate from the 1950s when they were used to describe characters in western films – the good guys would typically where white hats and the bad guys would wear black hats.
In more recent years the terms have been used to describe computer hackers – a black hat hacker would be someone who takes advantage of weaknesses in computer systems for their own benefit. A white hat hacker would be someone who carries out the same task, but for ethical reasons – for example, to notify the system owner of vulnerabilities within their system.
The digital marketing industry has since taken on these terms and used them to describe different types of SEO tactics.
What is White Hat SEO?
The most commonly used definition for white hat SEO is someone who follows the guidelines set out by the search engines.
So, let’s look at the guidelines for the top search engines.
Google have some webmaster guidelines available here. In these guidelines Google talk in detail about optimizing your website to improve its position within search results.
The guidelines talk exclusively about on page optimization techniques including:
· Creating unique page titles and meta descriptions
· Improving site structure
· Writing well-structured, informative and media rich content
· Optimizing for mobile devices
Bing have a similar set of guidelines published here. Bing talk about similar on-page optimization techniques including:
· Sitemap creation
· Page load time optimization
· Effective and sensible use of web technologies
· Canonical tagging
· Optimizing site structure
That’s the on-page stuff out of the way – we now know that if you are optimizing your website as per the guidelines outlined by the top search engines then you are being completely ethical in your approach to SEO and you can don your white hat without any fear of reprisal.
What about link building?
let’s talk about the elephant in the room – link building.
If you have been involved in the world of SEO for any length of time, then you probably know about the importance of backlinks. Google, for example, uses a proprietary system called PageRank which ranks websites based on the number of quality inbound links pointing to any given webpage. Most other search engines also use the number of quality inbound links as a key metric when deciding where to rank each webpage in their index.
That being the case, if you want to optimize your website for the search engines, and to appear at the top for your target keywords, then you need to consider inbound links as part of your strategy.
Where does Link Building Fit in to White Hat SEO?
This is where it gets interesting. If we use the most common definition of white hat SEO then we must do all our optimizing as per the search engine’s best practices. So, what do the search engines say about building links to improve search ranking?
Here’s what Google have to say on the topic of link building –
Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.
That’s right, any links that you build with a view to improving your website’s position in Google are against their terms of service.
Let’s see what Bing have to say about link building –
Abusive tactics that aim to inflate the number and nature of inbound links such as links buying, participating in link schemes (link farms, link spamming and excessive link manipulation) can lead to your site being delisted from the Bing index.
Not quite as forthright as Google, but it is still clear that Bing do not like anyone to build backlinks with a view to manipulating search results.
So, if we are following the best practices laid out by the search engines then we pretty much need to stop right here. There is no link building of any nature to be carried out unless we want to fall fowl of Google, Bing and most other search engines.
Sure, you can pretend that you are building backlinks purely to generate relevant traffic and that if your PageRank improves as a result then it’s pure coincidence, but who are you kidding?
However, if we draw from the original meaning of the terms black hat and white hat and we think about the ethics behind SEO then it might be a different story.
If we were to ask other fellow webmasters and community contacts to link to our website with a view to improving our own website ranking would that be unethical? Or if we were to pay to be listed in a local online directory knowing that we would get a backlink in return, would that be unethical?
The search engines would say yes, because it would be detrimental to their cause, but to any struggling webmaster, Probably not. So, if we define white hat SEO as simply being an ethical approach to search engine optimization then it is fair to say that we can build backlinks to our website, as well as encouraging others to link to our site, providing we are ethical in our approach.
A good rule of thumb here is to think about the human audience – if we convince site B to provide us with a backlink how is that going to affect the readers of site B’s content? Is it going to enhance or detract from their experience? Assuming our website is a valuable resource and is closely related to the content on site B then it is fair to assume the link will be of benefit to the user and thus the link we have built is ethical.
Some forms of link-building generally considered as ethical and thus falling into the category of white hat SEO are –
· Guest blogging – writing content for somebody else’s website with a view to getting an inbound backlink within that content
· Link baiting – Writing content that naturally incites people to link to your page from theirs. Some forms of link baiting include writing highly informative content, writing about topical news items and writing about controversial topics
· Participating in community discussions – for example on community forums or commenting on other blogs within the same niche
What is Black Hat SEO?
Black Hat SEO is often referred to as the use of underhand tactics to improve a website’s position in the search results and typically involve tactics that go against the best practices outlined by the search engines.
At the most extreme level black hat tactics have very little consideration for the human audience and are far more focused on delivering exactly what the search engine wants.
Some extreme black hat SEO tactics include –
· Low quality private blog networks
· Automated website creation
· Spun content
· Automated high-volume backlink creation (Using tools like GSA)
Moving away from the extreme, black hat SEO can also be classed as any tactics that are deliberately trying to manipulate the search engines to make the target website rank higher than it normally would.
Once again if we take the most common definition of Black Hat SEO – the use of tactics that fall fowl of the search engine’s terms of service – then we can say that any type of offsite SEO is black hat, this would include –
· Any form of link building
· Paid links
· Link exchanges
· Directory listings
· Content promotion
· Link-baiting
That’s right, anyone who is building backlinks, regardless of how ethical their approach to doing so may be, is technically partaking in black hat SEO. That includes pretty much every SEO agency you have ever heard of, and if you come across an agency who says backlinks are totally irrelevant and don’t play any part in their SEO strategy, well they are either lying or don’t know anything about SEO!
If we conclude that everyone in the SEO industry is partaking in some form of black hat SEO tactics, then maybe we need to redefine the meaning of black and white when it comes to SEO. In fact, maybe it’s really the search engines themselves who have told us what these phrases should mean. Perhaps though, the search engine’s idea of the proverbial bad guy in the western movie is different from ours.
If we forget about what the search engines would like us to do and think only about ethics (Seeing as it is ethics that the terms white hat and black hat were originally centred around) then we could completely redefine what constitutes black hat and white hat SEO.
What About Grey Hat SEO?
Grey hat SEO pretty much covers everything in between white hat and black hat. A grey hat SEO practitioner is someone who doesn’t want their SEO strategy to be defined by what the search engines say is right and wrong, but rather follows their own ethics, their own code of practice. Grey hat SEO means optimizing your website for the search engines, it means trying to gain an advantage over the search engines wherever possible. But it also means thinking about your visitors along the way, thinking about the ethics of each tactic that you employ and trying to find a happy medium.
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It was mainly started because so many people ask the question - what is the difference between white hat and black hat SEO. But also, when I started researching it I looked at more than 10 of the most authoritative articles on the subject, and found that everyone was pretty much saying the same thing - everyone says that white hat SEO means following the search engines guidelines and I think thats crap to be honest!!! All of the people writing that are saying they do only white hat SEO, but they are all talking about link building elsewhere on their site, so thats why I was pointing out that link building is not strictly white hat SEO - if you define it as "following search engine guidelines and best practices".
