Gray Hat SEO : Types of SEO Practices in Digital Marketing

Many bloggers and website managers are rapidly inclining towards the serious adoption of SEO due to the difficulties involved in obtaining organic traffic. That’s why we found it necessary to pour more light on the types of SEO that are in existence. We all know that having a website without visitors to read its content is not very much different from not having one at all. And today that receiving a stable organic traffic from search engine has become tough as climbing mount Everest, it is important to embrace SEO.

What is SEO?

Literally meaning Search Engine Optimization, SEO is the very practice of increasing the quality and quantity of traffic coming to a website from search engine results.

Types of SEO practices

There are basically two main classes or categories of SEO that have been globally approved by digitalmarketing experts. They are, White hat SEO and Black hat SEO.

1.    White hat SEO

Just from its name, we can deduce that it is the sum of the most legitimate practices employed by marketers to gain higher positions for search queries in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). It is worth noting that all White hat SEO practices adhere or strictly abide to the Google’s guidelines for SEO practices. In short, it follows the Google’s algorithm of ranking. The most commonly practiced White hat SEO techniques are as follows:

·       Restructuring of the website;

·       Publishing quality content on the website;

·       HTML optimization; and

·       Link acquisition through quality content.

2.    Black hat SEO

Just as its name indicates, Black hat SEO has to do with all practices that are aimed at finding loopholes and weaknesses in Google’s algorithm with the aim of actively exploiting them to achieve higher rankings in Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs). It is worth noting here that these practices are against Google’s SEO guidelines as well as its algorithmic system of ranking. In order words, all practices that are labeled Black hat are illegitimate and can lead to sanctions if noticed by search engines. Below are the most common Black hat SEO practices:

• Key word stuffing;
• Hidden text;
• Spam links;
• Cloaking; and
• Hidden links.

3.    Gray hat SEO

Gray hat SEO includes bits from both the White hat SEO and Black hat SEO. It was invented as a result of the pressure that clients were putting on SEO companies as they wanted to see fast results.

Author Bio

Written by Desemond Mbantoh, an online entrepreneur and blogger at Onlineseoking.com, a website that focuses on guiding bloggers and webmasters on how to handle their websites, build their audience, and make money online.