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Why Should You Be Using White Hat SEO Techniques?

What is White Hat SEO? SEO, or search engine optimisation, is something that most people and companies know that they need, but do not necessarily know what it is or how to achieve it. Further, not all SEO techniques are good to use. Google has been very dedicated to filtering spam and poor-quality websites out…
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What is White Hat SEO?

SEO, or search engine optimisation, is something that most people and companies know that they need, but do not necessarily know what it is or how to achieve it. Further, not all SEO techniques are good to use. Google has been very dedicated to filtering spam and poor-quality websites out of its search results. This means that if you have been flagged as using black-hat or spam techniques to try to trick your way into the first page of Google, you can find yourself on one of the last pages or unlisted entirely.

Blackhat SEO techniques worked for a brief period before Google introduced Penguin, an algorithm that was designed to find and fight against these underhanded techniques.

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Examples of black hat techniques include keyword stuffing, changing the page’s content after it has ranked, having two different versions of a page – one the user can see, and one Google can see – using invisible text to add more keywords, article spinning, and more. Essentially, if the techniques you are using feel like you are cheating, or spamming others, then there is a good chance that they are black hat.

White hat techniques are those that Google approves of, they increase your SEO ranking, and even increase your organic traffic. That is because white hat techniques revolve around the premise of providing valuable content. Start increasing your page ranking by simply cleaning up your site so that it adheres to Google’s policies and provides value to your users. After you have a well-rounded page, you can start to work on using white hat SEO techniques to increase your page ranking.

Link-building is the single best way to increase your page ranking, and if you aren’t on the first page of a search result organically, then you are not likely to see much traffic at all. White hat techniques include natural and relevant link building. This means that instead of paying someone to insert your link into an irrelevant article, you use Click Intelligence’s resource linking to create relevant content within your industry and client demographics. This is increasingly important as Google’s RankBrain algorithm will be smarter and better in the coming years. Soon articles with poor grammar, short length, and little relevance will be filtered out entirely.

White hat SEO techniques are so much more than simple link building, however. At the base, white hat techniques provide quality content on your site and off your site. It means providing value to your users and readers first. Other great white hat techniques include being mentioned or referenced by local news agencies. There are so many ways to increase your Google page ranking that don’t resort to the black hat or spam techniques that will get you banned and delisted from Google’s search engine. White hat techniques ensure you rise in ranking and gain more organic traffic.

Naturally ranking high in Google’s search results will always be infinitely better than relying solely on Google Adwords. Pay per click (PPC) advertising is very expensive, and only a short-term solution. Rely on white hat techniques and increase your page ranking the right and organic way.

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James Owen, Co-Founder & Head Of Search

James has been involved in SEO and digital marketing projects since 2007. James has led many SEO projects for well-known brands in Travel, Gaming and Retail such as Jackpotjoy, Marriott, Intercontinental Hotels, Hotels.com, Expedia, Betway, Gumtree, 888, Ax Paris, Ebyuer, Ebay, Hotels combined, Smyths toys, love honey and Pearson to name a few. James has also been a speaker at SEO and digital marketing conferences and events such as Brighton SEO.

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