Difference between white hat and grey hat SEO

Ah! Don't go after these worthless terms. These are all relative terms and different SEO experts change the goal posts and definitions as per their choice. SEO is just SEO. And off-page SEO (unless it is brand building and social reach) is forbidden by Google. So, any external link built to your website is virtually blackhat.

Simple - white hat SEO does not exist.

I disagree, if for instance you have some author access on different blogs and add a genuine article with a backlink to your site it's 100% white hat SEO.Gray hat SEO it's Black hat techniques trying to look legit.Black hat seo it's good if you want to makd money quickly and you don't mind if Google de-indexed your website.For any serious business the intelligent way to go is White Hat SEO and there's many techniques.

White Hat SEO focus on building quality content first and SEO second. White Hat SEO may use technology and automation to build their websites too, but they use it to accomplish different goals. They write content for people, not search engines. White Hat SEO tend to rely more on their content and marketing skills to achieve a top ranking, rather than automated programs.


Gray Hat SEO is all about risk versus reward. Some Gray Hat techniques may be frowned by the search engines, but are not necessarily against their rules, while other techniques may be more risky and should be used only after careful consideration.

Milky Way Links said:

I disagree, if for instance you have some author access on different blogs and add a genuine article with a backlink to your site it's 100% white hat SEO.Gray hat SEO it's Black hat techniques trying to look legit.Black hat seo it's good if you want to makd money quickly and you don't mind if Google de-indexed your website.For any serious business the intelligent way to go is White Hat SEO and there's many techniques.

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That would be part of social reach. That is why I mentioned (unless it is brand building and social reach). The only way for completely white hat off-page SEO is social reach and brand building.

jerrymc said:

White Hat SEO focus on building quality content first and SEO second. White Hat SEO may use technology and automation to build their websites too, but they use it to accomplish different goals. They write content for people, not search engines. White Hat SEO tend to rely more on their content and marketing skills to achieve a top ranking, rather than automated programs.


Gray Hat SEO is all about risk versus reward. Some Gray Hat techniques may be frowned by the search engines, but are not necessarily against their rules, while other techniques may be more risky and should be used only after careful consideration.

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Please inform me one gray hat technique which is not against Google rules i.e. webmaster guidelines. Here is the quote directly from Google webmaster guidelines:

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.

If your site violates one or more of these guidelines, then Google may take manual action against it.

This is the "honest" approach to optimising a website and the general principle is to try and be liked by the search engines.

There are two main views as to what Grey Hat actually is:

1. It is the "shadey" approach which does not break any search engine rules but bends them to say the least.
2. It is a mix - doing some White Hat and some Black Hat makes you a Grey Hat practitioner.

In a nutshell, "Grey Hat"is a mix of manual and automated link building while "White Hat" is purely "manual".

vitarank said:

In a nutshell, "Grey Hat"is a mix of manual and automated link building while "White Hat" is purely "manual".

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Now, this is the correct answer for your query, Grey Hat is done with tools and manually too.

the whole SEO thing is a myth, you are always trying to game the algorithm to get more traffic from search engines. There is no hard and fast rule on white hat/grey and black hat.

I believe there is no white hat & grey hat methods in SEO.

If you do anything reasonable on right channel with limit. You would be King of SEO industry.

Over doing is always going to be GREY HAT.

So we should aware of it.

White hat SEO : Buy adwords

Black hat SEO : The stuff that works.

Gray hat SEO : It's a white hat seen in Beijing smog.

bartosimpsonio said:

White hat SEO: Buy AdWords

Black hat SEO: The stuff that works.

Gray hat SEO: It's a white hat seen in Beijing smog.

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I accepted these difference

I disagree, if for example you've some author access on several blogs and give a real thing having a back-link to your website it's 100% whitened hat Search engine optimization.Grey hat Search engine optimization it's Spammy techniques attempting to look legit.Spammy search engine optimization it is good if you wish to makd money rapidly and also you don't mind if Google p-indexed your site.For just about any serious business the intelligent approach to take is Whitened Hat Search engine optimization and there is many techniques.

[h=2]White Hat SEO[/h] This is the "honest" approach to optimising a website and the general principle is to try and be liked by the search engines.
The overall strategy is to create a well coded website for search engines to read and understand and then (optionally) to mimic what should happen normally for pages that human users like.
So, for example, if a user found a website and decided it was interesting they may write an article about it, discuss it on a forum or mention it in their blog. White Hat seeks to accelerate this process by writing articles, entering forum discussions or blogging as separate people to the website itself.
The idea is to create enough "buzz" about the website to get the momentum rolling after which normal users will begin creating further links. However, if the site is not generally popular, search engine optimisation will have to be carried out on a continuous basis to maintain an impression that it is popular.
White Hat SEO Costs
Quality White Hat search engine optimisation, even for a small site with a few pages, can require a four figure budget as it is extremely time consuming and has to be done by humans.

[h=2]Grey Hat SEO[/h] There are two main views as to what Grey Hat actually is:

1. It is the "shadey" approach which does not break any search engine rules but bends them to say the least.
2. It is a mix - doing some White Hat and some Black Hat makes you a Grey Hat practitioner.
   1. An example might be paid links. You are trying to fool the search engines into thinking your website is popular because links appear in a variety of places around the internet. However these are not links added by other webmasters who genuinely like your site, they are being paid to do so.
      Grey Hat can often be considered as the Black Hat of tomorrow. Sometimes the only reason something is not Black Hat is because the search engine algorithms haven't figured out a way to spot it ... yet.
      Grey Hat SEO Costs
      Grey Hat is cheaper than White Hat but the results don't tend to last as long because search engines spot patterns (such as paid links) and reduce your ranking. As such Grey Hat can be seen as useful for a short term campaign like a competition where long term rankings are not important.
      

White Hat SEO is basically a process where users try to increase their search engine optimization through honest techniques and by following search engines? guidelines.
Grey hat SEO avoids or bends the guidelines that search engines have

Milky Way Links said:

I disagree, if for instance you have some author access on different blogs and add a genuine article with a backlink to your site it's 100% white hat SEO.Gray hat SEO it's Black hat techniques trying to look legit.Black hat seo it's good if you want to makd money quickly and you don't mind if Google de-indexed your website.For any serious business the intelligent way to go is White Hat SEO and there's many techniques.

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I'd hate to tell you but according to Google blogging on a real high quality blog with the intention to get a link back is considered black hat. According to Matt Cutts guest posting is ok but the link should be NO FOLLOW. Any effort to obtain a link back to your site is considered manipulative by google.