What is White Hat SEO?
White hat SEO refers to search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that follow the guidelines specified by search engines. It is the opposite of black hat SEO, which refers to the SEO techniques that violate search engine guidelines.
Black hat SEO techniques can get Google to hit you with a manual action penalty. This will result in Google demoting your rankings or removing your content completely from search results pages.
White hat SEO is typically used in terms of Google since it is the most popular search engine. In this case, it refers to search engine optimization techniques that do not violate Google Search Essentials guidelines. Some examples of white hat SEO techniques include:
- Optimizing your content for relevant keywords
- Providing clear and well-optimized images with alt text
- Creating rich and engaging content that is helpful to the reader
- Including meta tags et structured data to the content
- Adding external and internal links to the content
Importance of White Hat SEO
It is recommended to stick to white hat SEO techniques as they ensure you do not get hit by Google’s manual action penalties. These penalties could cause Google to demote your rankings or completely remove your content or site from search results pages.
Once hit with a manual action penalty, your content or site can only get back on the search results page after you have filed a reconsideration request. The reconsideration request may take some time to process, and there is no guarantee that you will regain your rankings after it is lifted.
Aside from the threat of a manual action penalty, sticking with white hat SEO techniques ensures your content remains on search results pages for longer. It also ensures that your content is helpful to visitors, making it likelier to rank on search results pages.
White hat SEO is generally used by bloggers who want to play the long game with SEO and wish to continue to rank on Google for the long term. Black hat SEO, on the other hand, is used by bloggers who want short-term results.
Even a black hat SEO technique that works well will ultimately stop working at some point. Meanwhile, white hat SEO techniques are evergreen and always work.
White Hat SEO Best Practices
White hat SEO combines on-page SEO, off-page SEO, technical SEO, et local SEO best practices. So, to get the most out of your content and link building, it is recommended to follow the white hat SEO best practices listed below.
1 Create Content for Humans
Create content that is helpful for your human visitors. Black hat SEO techniques typically include content intended to trick and manipulate search engines. These contents are not always human-friendly and, in many instances, are unintelligible to humans.
Even in instances where they are intelligible, they are usually irrelevant and do not satisfy the intent of the searcher. So, visitors will usually skip them anyway. So, your content should satisfy the search intent, be relevant, and be well-formatted with adequate use of header tags.
2 Include Keywords in Your Content
Keywords help search engines to understand the relevant search queries for which they could display your content. So, you should include relevant keywords within your content and optimize your content for those keywords.
The keywords should be in the visible content on the webpage, including the title, anchor text, and header tags. The keywords should also be included in the non-visible content, including the meta title, meta description, et alt text.
While including keywords, however, it is best to do it within limits so that it does not lead to keyword stuffing. You should also include them only when relevant and ensure they do not affect the flow of the content.
3 Set the Pages to Index and Follow
Ensure that Google can index and follow the link on the webpage you want on search results pages. So, you should not include a noindex tag on your webpage. If you want Google to follow the links on the page to find other content you link to, then make sure not to include a nofollow tag.
4 Include Structured Data on the Page
Structured data is a standardized format for presenting your content to search engines. Schema is a form of structured data supported by multiple search engines, including Bing, Yahoo, and Google.
Google even requires your content to include specific Schema structured data if you want it to appear as a rich result on search results pages.
5 Perform Keyword Research
Keyword research is crucial for bloggers who want to appear on Google results pages. It helps to reveal keywords that people are searching for and also helps to uncover crucial details about the keyword.
For example, keyword research will reveal crucial metrics like keyword difficulty, which helps estimate the amount of competition to expect when trying to rank for that keyword.