Ethical Search Engine Optimization

For those who view their web site and the online business it represents as a long term investment, ethical Search Engine Optimization is critical. Once you’ve devoted valuable resources to creating a web presence, you can’t afford to be penalized or banned from the Search Engines’ indexes.

Several SEO terms have evolved that explain the ethics of the profession:

White Hat
White hat SEO’s are the good wizards of the web. They follow the Search Engines’ guidelines in an effort to rank well in the SERPS (Search Engine Results Pages). White hats consider a web site to be a long term investment and are willing to make incremental improvements over time to increase its rankings and value to the owner. White hats follow the rules in order to earn a prominent place in the rankings.

Black Hat

Black hats are masters of the darker side of SEO and concentrate on trying to deceive the Search Engines in one way or another in order to gain undeserved rankings. While their strategies and techniques often result in short-term gains, they rarely have any long-term staying power. Black hats are often willing to take risks with their web sites that may result in penalties or banishment from the Google index.

Many black hat SEO’s do not consider what they do as unethical. They simply feel that they are pushing the envelope and taking advantage of weaknesses and loopholes that they discover.

Gray Hats
Gray hat SEO’s basically follow the Search Engines’ guidelines. However, they sometimes do things that they’d prefer the Search Engines don’t find out about.

Choosing an SEO Consultant

In Search Engine Optimization, as in life, rarely will you find an SEO who is all white hat or all black hat. Even those with the best of intentions can be surprised by changes in the guidelines or may incorrectly interpret some of them.

This dilemma is compounded by the fact the the Search Engines don’t really want us to know what factors drive their algorithms or how much of something you can do before penalties kick in.

Be certain to understand the risks involved and ask appropriate questions before choosing an SEO to work on your web site.