Before opting for a seo strategy, it is good to decide if you want to go with blackhat or whitehat seo. Both of these seo strategies are starkly different. The results that they can generate are different as well.
Confused which one to choose?
Worry not! Today, we will share with you blackhat vs whitehat seo comparison. It will help you understand what each strategy has on offer. You can then choose the seo strategy accordingly.
1. Definition:
Let us look at the basics first.
Blackhat seo involves techniques that break the search engine rules to manipulate the search engine rankings.
Whitehat seo, on the other end, involves increasing your ranks in search engines while adhering to search engine guidelines. In a nutshell, Whitehat seo is like staying within the law’s realms while improving your rankings in the search engines.
With the basic definition out of the way, let us look at the comparison in greater detail.
2. Focus:
Did you know that blackhat and whitehat seo focus on two different things?
Blackhat seo focuses on gaming the search engines. Every move or step which you execute is to achieve higher rankings. In blackhat seo, the audience does not matter a lot. The sole aim is to increase the rankings in the search engines. Thus, when you achieve higher rankings, you might find that your content and website are not up to the mark.
On the other hand, whitehat seo involves doing each and everything for prospective readers and humans. Consequently, you will improve your website and content regularly. You will also add to the content. Since your website is geared towards your visitors, the conversion rate is on the higher side. Additionally, the visitors will like your website that will help you with the revenue.
There is a fundamental difference between blackhat seo and whitehat seo. Depending on what you choose, your website will look starkly different at the end of your seo campaign. The focus of both varies significantly.
3. Techniques:
We understand your curiosity regarding the techniques used in both. We will cover these techniques to give you a better idea.
BlackHat seo revolves on getting backlinks for your website. It includes techniques like:
Blackhat Seo involves creating link farms. These are domains/sites made to improve their rankings. They are often linked with automated software that can generate content and link to your site using this link.
Another technique is to include hidden text on your website. It is done to increase the keyword density so that your site ranks better.
Spamming links in blog comments is another technique used in blackhat seo.
Blackhat technique also involves scraping content and spinning it to generate content for your website.
Buying paid backlinks is another technique widely used in blackhat seo.
Blackhat seo also involves link injection through finding loopholes in other websites.
These are some of the techniques widely used in blackhat seo. As you might have noticed, most of them are not entirely legit.
Let us now look at the white hat seo techniques to understand the difference.
- The primary technique of Whitehat Seo is to guest blog on other blogs. It involves writing excellent content on other established blogs with a link back to your website.
- It also involves publishing a significant amount of unique and valuable content on your website for relevant visitors. The keywords will help your website rank in the search engines.
- Whitehat Seo relies extensively on on-site optimization. When you include the keywords, relevant information, and metadata, your website will rank higher in search engines.
- Internal linking is a significant part of whitehat seo. Internal linking involves linking one page of your website to another relevant page.
These whitehat seo techniques are safe for your website.
As you can see, when comparing blackhat vs. whitehat seo, the techniques involved are significantly different. You have to consider this before starting your SEO campaign.
4. Effectiveness:
Now that you are aware of the different blackhat seo when it comes to techniques, you would want to know their effectiveness.
Blackhat seo is effective in the short term. If you’re looking for fast rankings, you can gain those through blackhat seo. The problem is that in the long term, the search engine algorithm and search engine updates will weed out your website. You cannot expect to rank for more than 6 to 8 months. If that is your goal, you can go with the blackhat technique.
If you want to rank for a long time, you need to go with whitehat seo. Since it involves sticking to search engine guidelines, you need not worry about algorithm updates and other such things. Once you rank your website for a particular keyword, it is easier to sustain it.
Thus, the effectiveness of whitehat Seo is much better. That is because the rankings are sustained for a long time.
5. ROI:
The primary decision whether you go with Blackhat or Whitehat seo will depend on the ROI it provides.
In the longer run, whitehat Seo provides a much better ROI. The reason for the same is because your website will rank for a long time. You will get visitors consistently.
Blackhat, on the other hand, provides you with a large upfront ROI. However, since after a while, the rankings will go down, the ROI will also vanish.
When you look at final ROI numbers, whitehat seo certainly provides you with a better ROI. If you want to choose a seo technique based on ROI, you have no other option but to go with whitehat seo.
6. Keyword focus:
Another difference is the number of keywords for which your website can rank.
When trying to rank locally, you need to rank for as many keywords as possible. That is because; the number of searches for each keyword is on the lower side.
Blackhat seo takes a targeted approach when it comes to ranking for keywords. For eg, if you are a baker and focus on keywords like cupcakes Singapore, your backlinks will be built with this keyword as the anchor text. Therefore, you will rank for only the main keyword and a couple of others.
Whitehat seo takes a natural approach when it comes to choosing keywords. You need not rank for keywords like cupcakes Singapore but a variety of other relevant terms as well. These include bulk cupcakes Singapore, cupcakes online order Singapore, and so on. It is because whitehat seo involves optimizing your website content to rank for such keywords. The best thing is that you naturally rank for the relevant keywords, which provides whitehat Seo a distinct advantage.
The keywords you rank for is starkly different in blackhat and whitehat seo.
Thus, when you compare blackhat vs whitehat seo, in the longer term, whitehat seo is always better. It offers you numerous advantages absent in the blackhat technique. Once you make up your mind regarding whitehat or ethical seo, it is better to choose a reliable seo agency like seocompanies.com.sg. Hiring an agency to execute your Seo strategy frees you up to focus on your business. Moreover, the professional experience of the Seo agency can work to your advantage. The next time around, you’re confused between blackhat vs whitehat seo, keep these few factors in mind.