SEO in simple terms means Search Engine Optimization. It is the process of driving targeted audiences to the website. SEO is technically a way to assist search engines to get discovered and rank higher than millions of other websites in competition.

It is the biggest dream of every business to rank first on search engines. SEO marketing is important as major searches happen on Google. Let us understand how search engine optimization works to rank your content or website.

The two important paths of SEO

If you ask what are the core elements of Search Engine Optimization, it becomes essential to deeply understand, on-page SEO and off-page SEO.

On-Page SEO

On-page SEO is more focused on content improvement for better rankings. It is a process to incorporate content targeted to specific keywords into your website and relevant pages. High-quality content is the key for on-page SEO but make sure titles are keyword-rich and articles use metatags, URLs, and important links among other important SEO factors.

Off-Page SEO

Off-Page SEO is an optimization that happens off any website. This is done by earning backlinks or by gaining mentions on other websites. Off-page SEO can be gained by creating content that is easy to share. This optimization is crucial for improving the relevance, trustworthiness, and authority of any website.

SEO strategies: A detailed view

There are different types of SEO strategies like white hat, black hat, technical, international, local, eCommerce, and content SEO that helps in quick ranking. Some of these SEO strategies are quite sneaky so, it is important to understand the good and bad aspects.

Black hat SEO is not cheerful

Black hat SEO is associated with keyword stuffing and link scraping for ranking quickly. It exploits Google’s search engine algorithm for instant results. Black is dark in SEO, it might work in the short-term. It is spammy and Google might penalize or blacklist your website, so beware of the black hat SEO strategy and avoid it.

What comes under black hat SEO?

Black hat SEO is a process against search engine guidelines and here are the few things that need to be avoided-

Duplication and keyword stuffing

Who likes duplication? Even Google doesn’t like it. The repeated duplicate keyword in text, again and again, blacklists a website quickly if stuffing is done in irrelevant places. Invisible text is also the part of black hat SEO where a lot of keywords are stuffed in the end of the article and it is hidden by the same background color. 

Redirecting and cloaking

Redirecting in black hat SEO means sending someone to a different URL from the one which was actually clicked. Cloaking on the other hand involves showing one piece of content to users and a different piece to search engines. Another wrong way of redirecting is by buying keyword-rich domains to attract all traffic to a single website.

Poor linking 

Relevant content links will be beneficial for gaining better traffic. It is not a good practice to purchase a package of promising links in 24 hours to build links and get traffic. Poor internal linking makes it difficult to get backlinks and makes it difficult for search engines to rate the web pages.

White hat SEO seems peaceful

White hat SEO practice is a more pure form of SEO in-line with major search engines and their terms and conditions. White hat SEO is best to build a successful website and it has the quality to improve search engine ranking on the  Search Engine Results Page (SERPS).

What comes under white hat SEO?

Wearing a white hat for SEO practices looks ethical for websites and businesses. Follow the steps below and make your SEO white hat.

Quality content and services

It is important to create high-quality content that meets the visitor’s needs. This content should also help them to solve their problem areas. It is easy with SEO keyword research tools to discover the relevant and popular keywords for website optimization. Keywords that gel well in better content, articles, and videos will fulfill the needs of the end user.

Descriptive meta tags

If you are unaware of meta tags, they are snippets of the text describing a page’s content.  Well, this won’t appear on the page but in the page’s source code.  Use descriptive meta-tags and keyword-rich meta-descriptions for helping users and search engines identify your content. A meta description can be described as a HTML element summarizing contents on a webpage and is beneficial for users and search engines.

Easy to navigate

Easy to navigate websites perform better in search results. Organize the information architecture of any website tactfully for easy navigation.

Gray Hat SEO is bleak

This SEO practice is riskier and neither belongs to a white hat or black hat strategy. According to SEO consultant John Andrews, “ Gray hat SEO is the  practice of tactics/techniques which remain ill-defined by published material coming out of Google, and for which reasonable people could disagree on how the tactics support or contrast with the spirit of Google’s published guidelines.” 

What comes under Gray hat SEO?

A common Gray hat SEO strategy is using expired domains. Buying or trading links, using private blog networks, and building micro-websites and blogs are also some of the other Gray hat SEO methods. When it comes to social media accounts, some businesses create multiple social media accounts to artificially inflate sharing and linking of websites. Google reviews play a very important role when it comes to ranking and it works well in another form of SEO called local SEO. It is a Gray Hat SEO strategy to trick the Google algorithm and pay for positive reviews. Many companies think it is a smart way to submit websites to web directories to get a free backlink. This is good when done in small numbers but overusing this strategy to get hundreds of links is manipulating the Gray hat SEO strategy. It is crucial to understand how Gray hat SEO is done sneakily by many businesses when it comes to playing with content, hidden keywords, and cloaking. 

Gray Hat Content SEO

One of the common content formats used for Gray Hat SEO is spinning. The content is usually lifted from other websites and reworded to avoid plagiarism. Spinning content can penalize your website and is similar to duplicating content. Duplicating is copying and pasting other website content or creating multiple copies of the same content for ranking high with targeted keywords. Even automation of content is a Gray Hat strategy where Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used to create content without human involvement. This automation also works with scraping content from other websites and combining it into one page on the main website. Duplication, automation, and lifting content sound very unethical aren’t they?

Hide and Seek with keywords

We have mentioned that using hidden text is a common black hat SEO strategy but in Gray Hat SEO it is again applicable with tricky settings like hiding keywords and setting font size to even zero. This technique will hide keywords from the user but allow the search engine to crawl but this is again a violation of Google Webmaster guidelines.

Deceptive cloaking

Cloaking is a deceptive SEO technique where one set of content or URLs is presented to human users and the other set goes to the search engines. It is done to get desired results on search engines to get desired rankings for targeted keywords. It is eventually giving different results to users than what they expect.

What are the other types of SEO?

The SEO story is not ending with black, white, and gray SEO. Other forms of SEO also play an important role and let us check what they are.

Technical SEO Crawls

Technical SEO is a process where Google bots crawl, interpret, and index website pages. It is a technique that also involves creating an extensive XML sitemap and making a website mobile-friendly. XML sitemap in simple terms can be described as a file that lists a website’s essential pages. This makes sure that Google can find and crawl all the pages. 

International SEO is cultural

The target market’s culture plays an important role in International SEO. Improving the website’s organic traffic with the help of different languages and areas is the main technique. The right format of dates and times based on the place is important to be listed. This type of SEO is more focused on creating a better online experience for the target audience.

Local SEO

Local SEO is important for local search engine visibility and helps businesses reach local audiences. It analyzes the behavior of the audience with their search results. Local SEO also involves local map listing to increase traffic to the website.

Ecommerce SEO

This SEO practice is best to rank online store websites. It helps in boosting product searches and services.  If done correctly this helps in optimizing the website, bringing traffic, and increasing better search volumes.

Content SEO

Content SEO is best for creating unique content. Content can be in any form like writing, graphics, or videos. When it comes to content SEO copywriting, website structure and keyword strategy need to strike the right balance. It is important to keep track of how the content is performing and the best way is to make necessary changes to broaden the reach of the website.

3rd Wave Media:  SEO agency in Mumbai

Search Engine Optimization is a system used to leverage more traffic on any website and gain a higher position in search results pages. SEO-optimized business wins a great number of visitors and can generate better optimum leads, feedback, and sales.  It is important to focus on building an online presence in this digital world and if you are someone looking out for SEO services in Mumbai, 3rd Wave media can fulfill all the SEO requirements. Check out with us for more making your website SEO friendly.