Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an important part of any ecommerce business owner’s marketing toolkit. But what is “black hat” SEO and what should you avoid doing? What are “white hat” SEO practices?
Optimising your website for search engines is absolutely essential. A properly-SEOd website will be found by more users, which then means more sales.
Yet it is important to play by the rules. The biggest search engine, Google, has a set of guidelines (you can view Google’s Webmaster Guidelines here which explain what is allowable and what is not.
Black hat SEO involves techniques and practices that are in violation of these Webmaster Guidelines.
Black hat SEO
Black hat SEO involves techniques to trick search engines, such as Google or Bing, into thinking that your ecommerce website is about something different than what it is about.
This often includes so-called backlink schemes, where the website owner pays other sites to link back to it. Some other black hat SEO techniques:
* Link pyramids: this involves creating other websites to provide backlinks to another main site.
* Hidden text / keyword stuffing: this involves using very, very small text stuffed with keywords, or using text that is “invisible” (ie the same font colour as the background).
* Doorway pages: pages designed to attract search engines, but which then redirect users to a different website. (Note: this is different to a landing page, which is fine to have!)
* Stolen content: by duplicating content from other websites (known as “scraping”), it can make a website look as if it has much more content and is updated much more frequently .
These are just a handful of examples. There are many more, including more complex techniques involving proxy servers and IP addresses, that are used to trick search engines.
White hat SEO
Yet Google – and other search engines – do allow website owners to optimise their sites. How can you play by the rules?
Some “legal” techniques that you can use to improve your website ranking include:
* Keyword placement: use keywords naturally throughout your ecommerce website’s text copy.
* Landing pages: unlike doorway pages (which are discouraged), you can create keyword-rich landing pages on your website that engage your users/customers.
* Original content: this is one of the most important white hat tools. Original content is pure “Google juice” – so be sure to update and refresh your content regularly through new web pages, new blogs, case studies and testimonials.
* Link building strategy: there is a fine line between black-hat and white-hate link building. The key difference is to use “natural” strategies, such as writing original/interesting content that other websites will link to and promote on their own merit. It’s fine to encourage others to link to you, but avoid paying for it.
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SEO: practices to avoid and techniques to follow
Search engine optimisation (SEO) is an important part of any ecommerce owner’s marketing toolkit. But what is “black hat” SEO and what should you avoid doing? What are “white hat” SEO practices?
Optimising your website for search engines is absolutely essential. A properly-SEOd website will be found by more users, which then means more sales.
Yet it is important to play by the rules. The biggest search engine, Google, has a set of guidelines (you can view Google’s Webmaster Guidelines here: http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35769) which explain what is allowable and what is not.
Black hat SEO involves techniques and practices that are in violation of these Webmaster Guidelines.
Black hat SEO
Black hat SEO involves techniques to trick search engines, such as Google or Bing, into thinking that your ecommerce website is about something different than what it is about.
This often includes so-called backlink schemes, where the website owner pays other sites to link back to it. Some other black hat SEO techniques:
* Link pyramids: this involves creating other websites to provide backlinks to another main site.
* Hidden text / keyword stuffing: this involves using very, very small text stuffed with keywords, or using text that is “invisible” (ie the same font colour as the background).
* Doorway pages: pages designed to attract search engines, but which then redirect users to a different website. (Note: this is different to a landing page, which is fine to have!)
* Stolen content: by duplicating content from other websites (known as “scraping”), it can make a website look as if it has much more content and is updated much more frequently .
These are just a handful of examples. There are many more, including more complex techniques involving proxy servers and IP addresses, that are used to trick search engines.
White hate SEO
Yet Google – and other search engines – do allow website owners to optimise their sites. How can you play by the rules?
Some “legal” techniques that you can use to improve your website ranking include:
* Keyword placement: use keywords naturally throughout your ecommerce website’s text copy.
* Landing pages: unlike doorway pages (which are discouraged), you can create keyword-rich landing pages on your website that engage your users/customers.
* Original content: this is one of the most important white hat tools. Original content is pure “Google juice” – so be sure to update and refresh your content regularly through new web pages, new blogs, case studies and testimonials.
* Link building strategy: there is a fine line between black-hat and white-hate link building. The key difference is to use “natural” strategies, such as writing original/interesting content that other websites will link to and promote on their own merit. It’s fine to encourage others to link to you, but avoid paying for it.
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