Differences Among White Label SEO, Black Hat SEO, Gray Hat SEO

Discussion 2: Difference Between White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO
Moradia
What is Difference between white Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO?
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Martinez ๐ŸŽ“
The short answer is that white hat SEO seeks to abide by search engine guidelines and black hat SEO intends to violate them.
The metaphor comes from an old movie trope, where the good guys wear white (white hats in western movies) and the bad guys wear black.

Martinez ๐ŸŽ“ ยป Moradia
This page is a good introduction.
https://developers.google.com/โ€ฆ/webmaster-guidelines
Webmaster Guidelines | Google Search Central | Google Developers
Moradia โœ๏ธ ยป Martinez
Thank you! โ˜บ๏ธ

Brent
This is all good information. I would like to add. Social acceptance changes the colour from white to black. Meaning, asking for a review or building a link is against googles term and condition, but these are two highly taught method of improving SEO or visualization. So I would like to ask the group what is your line if this is accessible?
Moradia โœ๏ธ ยป Ritu
i seen the link you share. But again my question from that vidio is
โ€“ what is important factor for the Good Quality Content?
How it differentiate weather it's good Quality or not?๐Ÿ’

Ritu ยป Moradia
I would like to put it as this:
Content that addresses user's intent in the best possible way is good quality.
With every update, Google algorithms have been strongly focussing on search intent, entities and EAT.
Content that addresses these factors will naturally get Google's love.. ๐Ÿ™‚
Martinez ๐ŸŽ“ ยป Moradia
EAT or E-A-T is an acronym for Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness. These are abstract goals that Google engineers ask their quality rater specialists to estimate when evaluating the sites shown to them in example search results.
There are no specific E-A-T ranking signals. E-A-T is the product of human judgment. It represents what most of us would probably say distinguishes a natural, helpful, useful, informative site from Websites created simply for the purpose of pleasing or manipulating search algorithms.
A doctor's Website has E-A-T because she or he tells the public about their professional work. The doctor is professionally motivated to help people and refrains from making egregious claims or false promises.
An affiliate Website promoting pharmaceutical products is motivated to make money from passive income. A good affiliate site refrains from making egregious claims or false promises, but some affiliate marketers are aggressive and will do anything to make money.
There is more to earning search referral traffic than practicing whatever earns people's trust, but that's the best way to start.
Moradia โœ๏ธ ยป Martinez
Thank you so much! โค

Ammon Johns ๐ŸŽ“
Predating all of these terms has its advantages. We didn't even have the term SEO when I started – it was all known as 'web promotion'.
SEO came along as a term somewhere around 1997 – 1998. The exact date depends on whether you are looking at someone coining it, or a few using it, or it becoming the widely accepted standard term. It didn't start out with white or black hat flavours.
Black Hat SEO wasn't a major term for the naughtier, less compliant side of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for some time. Instead we were generally specific about exactly what someone were doing, such as with sneaky redirects, or cloaked doorway pages. Links were not a big issue, of course, because although Google came into existence in 1998, it was a minor engine almost nobody but SEO users had ever heard of. It wasn't until 2001 that it became a top-tier search engine, and even then it was one of a half-dozen.
Anyway, what we had by the turn of the millennium was SEO, and Black Hat SEO was the more aggressive, shadier, or deceptive side. Black hat was generally the higher-risk tactics or strategies where if it went well you could get to the top faster and easier, but if it went badly the domain was penalized or banned. There was no need for the term 'White Hat' since SEO was the regular non-black hat stuff. It's not like the search engines gave out badges of authority – and it is they who define their levels of tolerance and acceptance, and only they can decide what they will, or will not, spend time to crack down on, devalue, or penalize.
White Hat SEO was largely invented, and certainly made mainstream, by a relatively small group of SEO users involved with one particular forum. It was nothing more than a relatively meaningless, self-given differentiator. I hated the term mostly because it was just a thin excuse for bad SEO. The only people who needed to give themselves a 'White Hat' label, rather than call themselves 'professional' were people who needed the excuse – "Oh, sorry we aren't ranking. We're great and our work is perfect, but the other guys are cheating Black Hats".
You either rank or you don't. You can rank through techniques, tactics, strategies, and implementations thereof that are generally 'safe' and unlikely to be devalued at any time, or you can take more risks, exploit a few loopholes, knowing that such loopholes may be closed at any time and undo all your work.
There is little effective difference between a client that spent money on getting 'Authorship' stuff implemented only for it to be withdrawn and all that specific effort and investment be wasted, and a client who spent the same resources on links that got devalued and discounted.
To me, the so-called Black Hat who is very honest and effective in detailing the risks, makes them wisely and in line with the client's wishes, is MORE 'ethical' than a so-called White Hat who doesn't actually know the risks or likely longevity of the things he's doing, and doesn't therefore warn clients that what works today may not work six months from now in the same way.

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Discussion 1: A Debate on “Black/Gray hat SEO users”
Mew ๐Ÿ‘‘
Black/Gray hat SEO users are the ones who played video games growing up with cheat codes then bragged about winning, old sport!
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Chris
Black hat isn't cheating? How can you cheat against someone who is constantly changing the rules?
Black hat churn and burn is a legitimate business model and has nothing to do with ethics as black hat isn't unethical as Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a game of chess, it's about feigning weakness strength etc.
Personally I don't use black hat but see nothing wrong with it.
If we are talking bad ethics then the main perp is Google.

Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Chris
Anytime you break Google's Terms of Service (TOS), you are cheating. Period. Their platform, their rules. It's objectively the way it is.
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Chris
Here's the thing, Google change the rules and apply them retrospectively which is immoral and unethical.
An example would be that they told people to submit to directories then decided directory links were skewing their results so penalized everyone who had followed THE Google advice ๐Ÿ™
The instant they did that they lost the respect of many
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Chris
So if you're running your company a specific way and then change it to better suit your needs and possibly your consumer's needs, and some people have a problem with itโ€ฆthey should not respect what you want for your company and clients?
Chris ยป Mew
Point spectacularly missed. Google TOLD SEO users and worse, small business people what to do, then they decided to punish them for doing it?
If you can't see what's wrong there then there's no hope
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Chris
It's not okay for a corporation that owns their product to change their mind and illicit a response?
Interesting take, my friend.
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Kirsten Patricio ๐ŸŽ“ ยป Chris
Quite frankly I do know someone who literally brags to me that he was born before the internet was invented and it actually is true lol however, he is a man after my own heart so he doesn't really condone under the table approaches to business strategies – and quite reasonably, I would SEO is part of business strategy that also requires quite a specific road map of its own.
And I am curious – why do you think Google does exactly what they do?
Based on this example: "An example would be that they told people to submit to directories then decided directory links were skewing their results so penalized everyone who had followed THE Google advice ๐Ÿ™"
– Do you think it's by whim that you think Google did what they did? IMO, I bet they had to do that when people started abusing directory links.
And I'm not meaning to condescend on what you know – massive respects for being in the space that long but I am genuinely curious about what you think.
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Chris
WHY they did it really isn't the issue when it comes to ethics, the fact they did it made them unethical.
They told people to carry out a task, decided their own advice was wrong, and punished the people who had done nothing wrong at the time.
What Google have done many times is akin to dropping the speed limit from 40 to 30 THEN retrospectively fining everyone who had ever traveled that road at speeds above 30.
One can't retrospectively apply the rules and punish those who acted within the rules one set previously (well of course we can) But that is an unethical way to behave.
The ethical way would have simply to have discounted all directory links giving them a value of zero, or even clusters of low quality.
Punishing people retrospectively is immoral.
Imagine they raised the age of consent then went out and charged people with Pedophilia!
Same thing, ethics are black and white (excuse the pun)
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Chris
I think the argument therein lies that you don't have to use Google ๐Ÿ™‚
Chris ยป Mew
Whether or not I use them has no baring on their ethics.
Google behave unethically all the time, ๐Ÿ™‚

Marco
If you wanna spent months/years doing white hat for pointless resultsโ€ฆ sure you do you. And before someone says whitehat is for the long run: no it isn't, any update can take you down and in the time I rank a "white hat" site I rank 200 black hat ones for actual big boy terms, not just local.
To add: 10 links do more in terms of rankings than the most perfect onpage ever and 20 times faster you see the results.

Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Marco
Black hat can get a client's website blacklisted from Google. I could be wrong but participating in those types of efforts, knowing the possible outcome seems unethical.
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Marco ยป Mew
Nah doesn't happen, and even if it did you just 301 it to a new site from the client (for people doing client, I just do affiliate)
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Marco
So if a branded website we work on gets black listed I should just 301 it and explain that to my client? I'll keep that in mind while making sure it never happens ๐Ÿ™‚
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Chris ยป Mew
Hang on man, who said anything about client sites? You said black hat is unethical?
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Chris
Most of the SEO industry performs Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for other people. Apply 80/20 rule
Chris
Nope not buying that sorry you stated 'Black hat in unethical' now you are moving the goalposts ๐Ÿ˜‰
Pareto's law doesn't apply when stating facts. Had you said using black hat on a client site without them knowing fully the risks, then I'd have agreed, BUTโ€ฆ
you didn't.
On that note I'm off to my bed.
Sleep tight
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Chris
This is why everything in SEO "Depends". I am a local SEO, so my posting would of course be referential to the types of SEO I deal with most; client end.
And I couldn't fit all those characters into a FB colored background excerpt ๐Ÿ™‚
Enjoy your slumber!
Marco ยป Mew
I think you're talking about ancient by techniques nobody uses anymore that get sites penalized, that's not the style anymore
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Marco
Your site can be penalized for anything that's against TOS.

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Nathan
Black hat, white hat, grey hat, who really gives a **** it's all about the money and winning! Most of the time we lay out all the options for a client and let them decide because ultimately it is their business. But if you look at the Terms of Service (TOS) close enough I bet even you are guilty of breaking a rule without knowing it and if not give it a week/month/year and guaranteed something that wasn't against the TOS has changed.

Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Nathan
Your first sentence kept me from reading the rest.
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a debate on black gray hat seo users
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Nathan ยป Mew
So any business owner you have done work for is okay if your work doesn't make them money? Just curious?
Nathan ยป Mew
Also, explaining that I have a variety of clients some who request blackhat, whitehat, grey etcโ€ฆ and ultimately it is their business as long as you inform them of the risks and that is truly what they want. Then that's on them as a business owner for choosing to do shady things as some of them are churn n burn businesses anyways.
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Nathan
Are we speaking from their perspective or ours; seeing as how this is an SEO group, not an SMB group?
I absolutely do not do what I do for money. My dream is to help other people live their dreams. I've been rich, and I've been poor. My problems didn't change that much on either side of the spectrum, nor did it make me any more or less happy.
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Nathan ยป Mew
I agree it is an SEO group however, ultimately Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a benefit or service to business owners. As with that, I have yet to find a business owner that is okay with paying for something that doesn't eventually make them money. So yes, it is a little bit about the money for everyone.
Not saying get rich, but nobody works for free, but I could be wrong as I do have some prospects that would love for you to work for them, obviously for free. So yes at the end of the day it is a little about being paid even if you are passionate about it as I can tell you are.
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Nathan
It's never really about money, it's about how a business owner wants to provide for their family, their employees, and what things they want or need in their life due to money.
Saying it's about money is very shortsighted in my opinion. It's like saying SEO is about traffic – is it really?
At the end of the day we all need money to survive but on our end nor the business owners is it ever really about money.
Just my thoughts and 0.2c
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Nathan ยป Mew
SEO comes down to revenue. Just like any investment a business owner's main concern is Return on Investment (ROI).
Money is the source to trade for the things we want/need and while I understand what you mean and agree that a barter system would work just as well there always will be a token or currency for the trade to take place. But that is my 2 cents and experience with dealing with business owners.
Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Nathan
SEO should be performed for reasons outside of revenue. Revenue is the byproduct. Personal opinion of course ๐Ÿ™‚
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Kirsten Patricio ๐ŸŽ“ ยป Mew
I gotta side with Schieler on this one mainly because I have small business, medium business and enterprise working experience. I found that the more they cared about just revenue or ROI, the lesser quality of product was produced. I believe and know that the greater value your product has, the more people will pay and not really the other way around.
I think to build something of great quality involves not only skills but also values and principles – I personally uphold ethics and best practices in mind because if you think about it in scale, it's better for long-term growth.
Also, I would say SEO is not really calculated in terms of ROI either. I think that really is not the way to approach SEO. Plus isn't that more of a sales metric than a marketing one?
I've binged on god knows how many hours of financial management and education and I find that the people who do incredibly well on their fields do not have money in their mind as a priority. Funnily enough even a very, very good hedge fund manager isn't thinking about money as a priority lol can you believe it??? His priority is actually strategy then data then comes the money.
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Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Kirsten Patricio
SEO should focus on awareness and brand building, to be honest. Money tends to follow when the company is good at what they do.
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Kirsten Patricio ๐ŸŽ“ ยป Mew
Yeah, exactly! There's a reason why Analytics doesn't have revenue as a default in their dashboard and why we have site health and traffic metrics instead and I think that's exactly it.
But I do honestly have top to mid funnel conversions in mind too when I do SEO though lol traffic and leads are quite nice to have ๐Ÿ˜ƒ
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Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Kirsten Patricio
Even traffic is built because of ongoing awareness. SEO is the method, awareness is the goal, money is the result if we actually dial this down.
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Casas
99.99% of SEO users are doing a link scheme or trying to manipulate PageRank or Ranking position that includes people who are in denial in the pretense of Whitehat! No offense but it's the same definition for hypocrisy.

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Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Casas
We purposely pick niches that don't require links for this reason ๐Ÿ™‚

Drake
Wow, the comments in this group continuously blow my mind.
Do you know how many clients I've had come to me after they (unknowingly) hired black/grey hat SEO users and how much trust they lose on the whole industry? Imagine moving to a place like Mexico to become a professional thief and then argue with people online about the ethics behind it? "These people are traveling to Mexico, thieves are a thing here in Mexico and there is nothing wrong with taking advantage of the situation– if you want to talk about ethics, look at the police or government!!"
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Mew โœ๏ธ๐Ÿ‘‘ ยป Drake
I concur 1000% and prefer to set the example rather than affirm the norm but alas, we all have our own set of ethics!
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