As with any huge sector like SEO, there are various viewpoints on on-site optimization best practices.
Many of these strategies can work, and the “best” is subjective, but there is one distinction you should be aware of: White vs. black hat SEO.
Although some SEOs may view these as two schools of thinking, they are not equal categorizations of SEO best practices.
This page compares white hat and black hat SEO, their tactics, and some white hat SEO examples.
A less common middle category and “What is grey hat SEO?” will also be covered.
Read on to learn about these SEO methods and how to establish a strategy that won’t harm your business.
White vs. Black Hat SEO: Differences?
White-hat SEO follows Google’s guidelines and improves user experience, while black-hat SEO ignores people.
Examples
Since white hat and black hat SEO have different purposes, their approaches rarely overlap.
Black-Hat SEO
We must first examine black hat SEO to understand white hat.
Black hat SEO tries to deceive search engines into ranking a website higher than it is. Without tricks, white hat SEO makes websites more relevant to search queries.
Black hat sites at the top of search engine results may be ineffective due to this “trickery”. Because Google et al. don’t want this, they discourage and punish black hat use.
Black hat SEO is dishonest and generally hurts users, thus search engines despise it. Black hat SEO frequently ignores users and targets search engines, unlike white hat SEO.
Despite Google’s strict position on black hat SEO, some people and firms still utilize it in hopes of not being found. These people and companies should be avoided if you want your website to stay visible.
Black hat Avoid these SEO tactics, which may still be used:
Keyword Stuffing
Keyword stuffing is spam that overuses keywords to boost a page’s search engine ranking. Keyword stuffing involves cramming title tags with irrelevant keywords to make them unintelligible.
A keyword-filled title tag for this page may read: “White Hat and Black Hat.” SEO | White Hat | Black Hat | SEO.” This title was constructed to repeat ‘SEO’, ‘white hat’, and ‘black hat’ without concern for language, readability, or integrity.
Similar tactics are employed in web page body copy for severe keyword stuffing.
Google recommends including keywords in title tags and content to benefit users and the bot. Do not overdo it.
Secret Content
Some black hat practitioners employ tags to hide content on a page that users cannot see but search engines can. Example: adding irrelevant keywords to a page’s code. The tag and others can be used by developers to hide spam on pages.
Bad Paid Links
Linking to your site with relevant anchor text helps boost search engine rankings. This link-building is fine until money crosses hands. Google considers buying links for link-building manipulative and black hat.
Paid links from spammy directories that only deliver links to customers’ websites are the worst. Recent Google upgrades make these directory links hazardous.
Although white hat, informative, insightful PR-type links with helpful reader content always benefit a site.
Doorway Pages, Sparse Content
Google Calls Doorway Pages
“Doorways are websites or pages optimized for similar search queries. The intermediary pages are less useful than the final goal. Doorways include:
- Multiple websites with slightly different URLs and main pages to enhance reach for specific queries
- Multiple domains or pages targeting certain regions or localities that direct viewers to one page
- Pages that direct users to your site’s useful content
- Significantly related pages that resemble search results rather than a browseable hierarchy
- Provides another update.
Sistrix explains doorway pages well. The most common forms these days are pages that only vary by location (i.e., separate pages for “Plumber London”, “Plumber Kensington”, “Plumber Chelsea”, “Plumber Shoreditch”, “Plumber Angel”, “Plumber Elephant and Castle” etc.), that offer subtle variations of similar products (“Carpet White”, “Carpet Off-White”, “Carpet Brown”, “Carpet Yellow”), and that offer subtle variations of the same keywords.
This content is any page with little or no distinctive material.
White-Hat SEO
White-hat SEO entails site publishers respecting search engine guidelines and algorithms. Regular updates improve these algorithms and eliminate black hat approaches.
Other differences between white hat and black hat SEO include that white hat approaches improve search rankings and user experience. Recommended white-hat SEO methods:
Good Content Authoring
Search engines want to direct consumers to well-researched, informative web pages. Google and other search engines will rank your website higher if it has high-quality material about your business or expertise.
Remember E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust). Learn about Google YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) and Google Medic Updates if you work in finance or medicine.
SEO services can write well-researched, informative content that uses industry-related language in a non-spammy fashion to show Google that the page is relevant to a search query.
Keyword Research
Keyword stuffing is illegal, but keywords are still vital for SEO. Agencies can utilize special tools to determine the numerous ways people are searching for your site or could be and use these words in your site copy strategically but not spammily.
Good Web Design
A more functional and user-friendly website will rank higher in search results. There are many techniques to optimize a website. Internal linking, structural markup, clean code, and easy navigation matter. To make your website easier for Google to crawl, optimize your crawl budget, create a silo structure, prevent keyword cannibalization, and improve navigation.
As black hat practices are eliminated, smart web design is crucial.
Remember that white-hat SEO is always best. It produces better results, a gorgeous website, and no penalties. It requires more imagination, creativity, technological know-how, time, patience, and charm than black hat methods, yet wonderful things come to those who wait.
Restrict AI Use
Google fears generative AI writing. This is because AI generators like ChatGPT have been known to generate many substantial errors and fabricate quotes, research, white papers, and case law and legal papers. Google is rightly concerned that if content publishers rely too heavily on generative AI and don’t fact-check and quality-control it, the internet and Google’s SERPs will be full of inaccurate or misleading content. We summarized Google’s AI posture in our AI content and SEO posts.
Link Building Should Emphasize PR
We think the only safe approach to building links is to write outstanding content that site publishers will organically link to or hire a PR agency and run a good PR campaign. This PR effort should seek brand mentions, visibility, and backlinks.
How Does Google Detect Spam and Black Hat SEO?
Google constantly improves online spam detection. It achieves this in several ways.
Updates to Spam-Targeting Algorithm
Famous spam-fighting algorithms include:
- Google Panda Update
- Google Penguin Update
- Google SpamBrain
Quality-rewarding algorithm updates
Some Google algorithm improvements boost high-quality content over low-quality content rather than spam. When a website is promoted for its good content, it pushes black hat content down the ranks and makes it less visible. The 2018 Google Brackets update illustrates this.
Google produces thousands of algorithm modifications each year, many of which are core and focused on online spam and black hat SEO.
Google spam team
A big, human crew of quality reviewers actively finds and manually removes web spam at Google.
Conclusion
You may encounter the black hat vs. white hat SEO controversy as you learn more about digital marketing and site optimization.
When you do, know that this debate is pointless.
Don’t listen to anyone who says otherwise—white-hat SEO is best.
Black hat SEO may help some site owners get quick wins, but it violates Google’s standards, uses manipulative approaches, and is more likely to end in a penalty than a win.
White hat SEO, on the other hand, follows search engine criteria, targets humans, and takes a long-term approach to improve search exposure.
Considering that, you may be asking how to optimize your site for maximum benefit.
If so, our on-page and off-page SEO guidelines provide the tactics you need.
How do you guarantee white hat SEO?
