What is Black Hat Seo vs White Hat Seo?

Marko T said:

White hat is when you do nothing and pray your site is gonna rank.

Black hat is the opposite.

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Not quite right. Anyone can spam your website with links.

Deleted member 1879596 said:

Thank you for explaining.
What does this mean "keep the dangerous anchor texts - the exact and partial match ones - under 10% of the total anchors of the backlinks that point to that page)"

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Let's say you have a car repair site called StarforceCarRepair.com, and you have 3 pages that you wish to rank in google, which are called:

BMW Repair Parts
Ford Repair Parts
Mazda Repair Parts

When you build links, the text that gets chosen as anchor text can be anything you want of several types of anchor texts. For example, for the "Ford Repair Parts" page your backlinks could link to this page using any of these anchor texts:

1) Brand anchor text (ie anchor text that mentions / includes your brand), such as... Starforce Car Repair, Starforce Repair Parts, Starforce Ford Repair, Starforce car repair, etc... Any of these anchor texts are considered branded anchor texts because they include the name of your brand (Starforce)

2) Exact match anchor texts (these are anchor texts that include ONLY the keyword you wish to rank for). For example, for the "Ford Repair Parts" page let's say you target the keywords "ford repair parts" and "ford repair autoshop" and optimize your page (Ford Repair Parts) for these 2 keywords...

In this case, if your backlinks contain the exact same words as the keywords you target (in your case these would be "ford repair parts" and "ford repair autoshop") then they are considered exact match anchor texts because the anchor texts... well... they match your target keywords exactly

The exact match anchor texts are some of the most powerful ones when it comes to ranking, but google knows this too so when they see lots of backlinks with exact match anchor texts they consider the people that built those backlinks to know what they're doing, which is using these powerful anchor texts in order to gain good rankings as google favors keyword relevancy in backlinks... or they used to favor this, I don't know if these anchors are as powerful as they used to be but they still have some power for sure...

These exact match anchors are / have been very powerful in ranking, so if you went overboard with using them you could have gotten in troubles really quick, which is why I've said they are very dangerous...

And the same with the partial match anchor texts. Partial match anchors use some variation / part of the keyword as backlink instead of the entire keyword. So, in our example, a partial match anchor text for the keywords "ford repair parts" and "ford repair autoshop" could be any of these:

- ford repair
- ford parts
- ford autoshop
- repair parts
- repair autoshop
- ford repair parts in Michigan
- Ford parts autoshop
- Repair Parts for Ford
- Autoshop for Ford Repair
- Ford Repairing Parts
- Ford Autoshop near me
- etc.,.

Basically, include any word / any combination of the words from the main keywords in your backlink that are not exact match and you've obtained partial match anchor texts...

I don't know how dangerous partial match anchors are, so I can't speak about them as I simply don't know. But the exact match anchors are very sensitive, so you shouldn't abuse them. If you buy 20 backlinks, for example, and these backlinks have different degrees of strength and you intend to point all 20 links to the same page (let's say to the "Ford Repair Parts" page), you should use exact match anchors ("ford repair parts" and "ford repair autoshop") on maximum 10% of these 20 backlinks, so this means up to 2 times for each keyword each, and preferably only for the best and strongest links, while the remaining links should get either branded anchors, or naked URL anchors, or generic anchors... ok, maybe throw 1 or 2 partial match anchors in there, too for diversity purposes...

So, 10% of 20 links = 2 anchors, and since you're targeting 2 keywords with this page ("ford repair parts" and "ford repair autoshop") you can use up to 10% of the anchors as exact match anchors, which means 0 to 2 of those 20 backlinks can have the exact match anchor "ford repair parts", while another 0 to 2 links can have the other keyword (ford repair autoshop) as exact match anchor...

Sometimes you can get away with more than 10% exact match anchors, but I've always kept them under 10% because I'm very panicky

But there are people who go over 10%, so it's definitely possible to be safe by abusing these anchors (especially true for big sites which google shows more leniency towards than for smaller sites). But like I said, I always preferred extra safety, which is why I kept these anchors at around 5-6%

Deleted member 1879596 said:

do i have to diversify anchor texts and not have more than 10% of same or variation of keywords?

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yes, having diverse anchors is best...

If you have a branded site use branded anchors for your homepage (you can have anywhere between 30% and 60% as branded anchors without running into issues, the rest of the anchors can be generic or naked URL)...

And for your inner pages (blog posts, for example) you can use a mix of exact match + naked URL + generic anchors (visit us, our blog, at our shop, on our site, click here, check us out today!, this car repair shop has the solution, etc...). I've heard someone say that it's not recommended to use branded anchors for inner (content) pages, but I've not asked why, so I don't know what the reasoning is (or whether this is even true), but if it's true you might not want to risk it. So keep the branded anchors for the homepage only and you should be fine!

Deleted member 1879596 said:

What if i want to rank for only 3 to 4 keywords?

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get creative (while still not abusing the exact match anchors)! You can use each one of those 3-4 keywords as 1 exact match anchor for 3-4 backlinks, and the rest of the backlinks (assuming they're not that many) you can use generic anchors and naked URLs as I explained above).

Also, if those (or some of those) 3-4 keywords are not that important / hard to rank you might not even use them as anchor texts, sometimes optimizing the content with these keywords is enough for google to rank this page for each one of the keywords, you just have to test and see. First, optimize the content for these keywords (which you should be doing anyway), and then start building links and if you don't see these keywords ranking at least in top 20 you can build a few more links with them as exact match anchors and - if the keywords are really not that hard - this almost always guarantees rankings (assuming that everything else with your site is OK, of course, because if you're using a penalized / blacklisted domain for example you can build as many links as you want and you probably won't rank squat if google hates your domain to begin with )

Thank you my friend, this was very helpful!

So basically what i understood not to spam with main keywords, and if i get lots of cheap backlinks lets say 200 i have to diversify with generic/modified similar keywords, right?

tazarbm said:

(assuming that everything else with your site is OK, of course, because if you're using a penalized / blacklisted domain for example you can build as many links as you want and you probably won't rank squat if google hates your domain to begin with )

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Btw, i can see if my site is penalized/blacklisted in webmaster manual action section, right, and where else i can see that?

Deleted member 1879596 said:

So basically what i understood not to spam with main keywords, and if i get lots of cheap backlinks lets say 200 i have to diversify with generic/modified similar keywords, right?

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for sure! Don't you think google can tell you're building links if all 200 links use the same anchor text? That's a dead giveaway

Deleted member 1879596 said:

Btw, i can see if my site is penalized/blacklisted in webmaster manual action section, right, and where else i can see that?

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this one I don't know. I mean, some manual actions do show up in GSC, you're right! And for algo penalties you can check the graph for rankings over the last 6-12 months, if there's a penalty it shows up on the graph as a sudden drop in clicks and impressions.

But if your domain is blacklisted by google I don't know how to see, and I would love to know this too. So if you ever find out share the tip

Black hat seo and white hat seo are part of sear engine optimisation
Both use for rank on search engines

Deleted member 1879596 said:

Hi all,

Hope you are doing well.

Can someone explain BlackHat Seo techniques that you use to rank in search engines, also White Hat Seo? I know that in White Hat Seo you optimize content and build links but dont know in Black Hat Seo. And how can i avoid getting/purchasing suspicious backlinks, so i wont get penalized from google?

Thank you!

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Black hat SEO goes against the guidelines set by search engines and manipulates them to gain higher rankings. It can lead to being wiped completely from search results or gaining a lower position. White hat SEO is a more ethical way of doing SEO by creating quality content and a good user experience.
The focus of black hat content practices is to manipulate search engine algorithms rather than offer value to the user. This can involve duplicating content across sites, keyword stuffing, and hidden text.

Thank you for explaining.

White Hat SEO focuses on Ethical Practices, Long term strategies, Quality content, Natural Link building and Technical optimization. Using Keyword research to naturally incorporate relevant terms into content
Where as Black Hat SEO focuses on Manipulative practices, Keyword Stuffing, Cloaking. Using automated tools to generate spammy backlinks.

Black Hat SEO involves unethical practices to manipulate search engine rankings, such as keyword stuffing, cloaking, and using spammy backlinks. While it might yield short-term gains, it risks penalties from search engines and can harm a site's long-term reputation.

White Hat SEO focuses on ethical strategies that adhere to search engine guidelines, such as creating high-quality content, optimizing for relevant keywords, and building natural backlinks. This approach fosters sustainable, long-term success and maintains a positive online reputation.

Choosing White Hat SEO is generally recommended for lasting and credible search engine performance.

What I think is that you need to have good content, need to do everything possible to adhere to google's policies so you're set on white hat seo for your site, this is the foundation,

Then you use Black hat, like buying links etc to push it forward, if its good content and everything then you buy some good quality links, you're much more likely to explode in rankings and traffics, then using either one of the strategies in isolation

Deleted member 1879596 said:

And how can i avoid getting/purchasing suspicious backlinks, so i wont get penalized from google?

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Basically, you're taking a shortcut. If Google finds out, you will be penalized.

So i see now that buying links is big deal for google to penalize me.

Who are some good backlink sellers?

White hat SEO is a set of ethical search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that comply with search engine guidelines. White hat SEO is the opposite of black hat SEO, which uses tactics that go against search engine guidelines.

Black hat SEO is a form of search engine optimization where a website uses ill practices to improve its rankings for search queries artificially. These practices often break service agreements and can lead to penalties.

Black Hat SEO: utilizes dishonest practices, similar to watchword stuffing and shrouding, to control search rankings rapidly, gambling with punishments.

White Hat SEO: adheres to web crawler rules, zeroing in on quality substance and client experience to accomplish economical, long haul rankings.

This methods works in 2024 ?? I'm not sure

White Hat SEO - Link building, keyword optimization and all that generic stuff which you already know. And if you make a quick google search on "How to increase SEO", I bet the first article will list out only the White Hat SEO methods.

Black Hat SEO - Paying a service to click on your article in the google search to increase your CTR (click through rate). Sounds immoral right? That's the Black Hat SEO. Easier to implement and harder to come by methods.

tazarbm said:

But if your domain is blacklisted by google I don't know how to see, and I would love to know this too. So if you ever find out share the tip

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I think this is a great tool to check: ismywebsitepenalized.com

Deleted member 1879596 said:

Hi all,

Hope you are doing well.

Can someone explain BlackHat Seo techniques that you use to rank in search engines, also White Hat Seo? I know that in White Hat Seo you optimize content and build links but dont know in Black Hat Seo. And how can i avoid getting/purchasing suspicious backlinks, so i wont get penalized from google?

Thank you!

Click to expand...

Blackhat SEO is doing certain actions that are penalised by Google. Whitehat SEO is doing "ethical" stuff according to Google. Link building is considered whitehat SEO. You need to monitor your backlinks and you need to search the marketplace to see which vendors offer strong backlinks. If you ever get a "bad" backlink you can choose to disavow it which means it doesn't affect your website anymore. Hope this information helps.

Here’s my take: White Hat SEO is all about ethical practices like optimizing content and building genuine links. Black Hat methods often involve tricks and shortcuts that can lead to penalties. To avoid getting hit by Google, steer clear of suspicious backlinks and focus on building quality, relevant links naturally.

Black Hat SEO uses unethical techniques to manipulate search rankings, risking penalties.
White Hat SEO follows ethical practices, focusing on quality content and user experience for sustainable growth.