Comments on: White Hat vs Black Hat Social Media Optimization

By: Samuel Symes

Samuel Symes — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 03:32:13 +0000

Most link building by most SEO firms is not “natural” and is in fact blackhat according to Google. If you have to pay for it, ask for it, comment for it or insert a link in your article to gain it, then you are manipulating Google search results and Google terms that as blackhat. You just need to view the many video’s by Matt Cutts to realize that if you are doing any of the above, then you are creating links manually and you violating Google’s TOS.

It simply baffles me how many SEO experts will quickly denounce Cloaking as “unethical” or against Google’s TOS or even label it as spam which manipulates search results but then on a daily basis create artificial, manual or software generated backlinks for clients.

If you are distributing countless articles with links or posting on blogs/forums to obtain backlinks or using automated backlinking software, isn’t that also spamming to manipulate search engine results?

What is the difference? It all violates Google’s TOS.

So does “blackhat” or being “unethical” really exist anymore? Isn’t this really about traffic, conversions and surviving within an ever tightening monopoly created by Google for which we now are left with few other options, unless to line the pockets of Google shareholders.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 05:16:24 +0000

White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO also differ in the way they handle content, with the former being more concerned with providing quality content that readers will find useful and relevant and will possibly cause the reader to want to come back to the site again and again.
As for Black Hat SEO, it is no less devious in the way it handles content, which in most cases it attempts to hide or disguise in some way. Comment tags are also often used in order to hide illegitimate keyword usage.

By: Rachel

Rachel — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:18:53 +0000

It’s just that I want to share the same info in those places. t a lot of it boils down to common sense and figuring out what your client is comfortable doing and how aggressive they want you to be. If they’re cool with you managing their Twitter account.

By: jim

jim — Wed, 06 Oct 2010 23:55:28 +0000

Basically, there’s no black and white to social media marketing. Sure, there’s “blatant spam” and “not spam” (or maybe “not so blatant spam”), but a lot of it boils down to common sense and figuring out what your client is comfortable doing and how aggressive they want you to be. If they’re cool with you managing their Twitter account and crafting content for their blog and you can do it successfully, great, do it. If they’d rather handle the branding and just get some guidance on how to best go about doing it, awesome, that works too.

By: SEO Test soccer blog

SEO Test soccer blog — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 14:09:50 +0000

oh, i don’t know if reciprocal linking is blackhat seo.

By: Busby SEO tester

Busby SEO tester — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:36:20 +0000

yes i’m agree with @Breeders Cup Picks

By: Busby SEO Test

Busby SEO Test — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 11:11:43 +0000

I’ve been confused by those terms myself. Thanks for breaking it down.

By: Breeders Cup Picks

Breeders Cup Picks — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 05:47:25 +0000

Reciprocal linking IS black hat. Any pay-to-play is. I mean, ethics is a different conversation, but it’s black hat.

By: paisley

paisley — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:30:37 +0000

@Downloadic

because usenet cross-posting was one of the earliest forms of spam..

By: Proxy

Proxy — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:13:26 +0000

Reciprocal linking is black hat method ??

i never heard about it just i am planning to increase the reciprocal links