How to Identify Black Hat SEO?

All roads in search engine optimization lead to the one and only one destination: “higher search engine ranking”. There are several ways of achieving this goal. You could choose the ethical route or the unethical one. If you tread the unethical route then mind you, you have indulged in Black hat SEO. Unethical routes might help you attain your goal fast but will never help you to sustain your success.

Well you might ask me which is an unethical route and how you could identify Black hat SEO.

Activities that do not follow the Search Engine’s rules and regulations and break them are Black hat techniques.

Activities that compromise on quality and provide the user with a poor user experience are again Black hat techniques.

Activities that unethically present content visibly or invisibly to search engine spiders and search engine users are Black hat techniques.

Over-enthusiastic people go overboard with normal ethical activities and turn the entire activity into an unethical one. Here are some tips to identify Black hat SEO techniques.

We all know that the number of times keywords are used really makes a difference. If you find in a website that keywords are repeated several times with no logic behind and provide a very poor experience to the user then you have identified a Black hat SEO. Usually the keyword density (the number of times the keyword is repeated in the content) should be between 4% and 7%. Sometimes, people knowingly increase the keyword density above that limit to make the bots take that word or phrase as an important keyword. This is called keyword stuffing. This is the most common Black hat SEO technique used.

Going a step further, just because they do not want the user to know that they are doing such keyword stuffing but want to present it to the search engine spider to increase rankings, the letters are made to blend with the color of the background. It would look like a plain background and you would never know that the keywords are hidden in it. This is another Black hat SEO technique to be avoided. Search Engines are capable of identifying such cheating.

There could be a doorway page which has no content but is entirely fabricated to suit the requirements of the bots and thereby increase the ranking of the website. This practice is frowned upon and the site may be banned or penalized for such action.

Empty meaningless links from one website to another website is also created.

Sometimes you will find the same web pages repeated in a domain. Search engines are intelligent and can identify such duplication within a domain

These sort of techniques could help you achieve your goal for a short while, but will definitely not help you retain your success. If identified, your website will be banned and penalized by search engines, thereby putting an end to all your online marketing dreams. Just remember that Search Engines are constantly improvised and made more and more intelligent. These short-term successes are best avoided. Aim for long-term success and benefit through White Hat Techniques. White Hat Techniques definitely lead you on the route to long-term success.

Remember, in business it is not enough if you succeed, how you succeed also counts.

Can You Manage Your Own SEO?

When you hear the fact that “Search Engine Optimization (SEO)” could do wonders to your business, you might wonder how. Search Engine Optimization helps you to achieve good ranking in search results when the net community looks out for information through search engines on the Internet. Every website owner wants his site to be known, searched, visited, and contacted. If you are on the 9^th or 10^th page of a search result, the chances of being clicked are very meager. You must get a higher ranking and find a place in the first page. Achieve this by doing search engine optimization for your company’s website by yourself or through a SEO provider.

Here are some tips and tricks of the trade.

Learn the ABCs: Search Engine Optimization is the formula that gets your website ranked higher on search engines. A search on the net will tell you how. If you are techno-savvy do the entire process yourself. All you need is time and constant updating of knowledge as this is a fast moving field and search engines keep changing their search logic to avoid fraudulent practices. Even if you are not techno-savvy, there are a few processes (off-page optimization) that you can do by yourself or you can always seek the services of a SEO company that has perfected this fine art as search engines constantly keep changing their modus operandi to ensure fair play, best results to the searchers, and minimization of fraud.

Understand the art and science of SEO: By now you must have realized that the science is the algorithms and techniques that rate the websites on the search engines, while the art is the way that expertise is used creatively to ensure that your website gets the optimal rating.

Judge how techno-savvy you are: Now take a critical view of your technical skills. Add to your technical skill the finesse of writing the right keyword at the right spot, linking to and from the most appropriate web pages and websites, and highlighting the content where it gets maximum attention. Do a self-analysis and assess how far you will be able to manage.

Analyze your road fitness: Managing your own website could save you money in the short run, but ensure that it meets your purpose in the long run. Strictly ensure that you do not indulge in any malpractices as your site might be totally banned by search engines if detected. Managing the website, updating it regularly but not losing the targeted keywords, keeping track of competition, linking with other websites to get maximum coverage, writing content, bookmarking and getting bookmarked, submitting articles and press releases, social networking, etc. are some of the requisite processes. If you have the time and the expertise do it yourself or else seek the services of a SEO service provider.

Keep a contingency plan ready: Many people manage their websites effectively and successfully, but there are times when you hit a roadblock either due to lack of resources or you are busy managing your other business affairs. At those times you could outsource it.

The ultimate purpose is to promote your business. You can do your own Search Engine Optimization if you have the time and expertise or get it done for you through a service provider if you have more fruitful endeavors to undertake for your business.

Forum Promotion - Is That Right For Your Company?

People from different backgrounds and regions with numerous skills and expertise join together to share their knowledge on a regular basis through the online platform called Forum Promotion. You can get links back from the posting made. This has a major role to play in SEO and hence has become a popular search engine optimization technique. Moreover people of similar thoughts are brought together and any information you wish to pass them can easily be done through the forum. It also reflects the changes in interests and trends of your customers and other people of similar interest. This will help you to keep abreast of your competitors.

What Are the Reasons To Do Forum Promotion?

To Build Trust

If you succeed and establish a reliable and effective online platform, then Forum Promotion will help you to reach out to your customers.

Your forum should

• Store detailed reliable information

• Provide web search facilities

• Motivate conversation and discussion groups on Hot Topics

• Be very active (high frequency of discussions)

• Send out reminders, e-mails, and newsletter

• Invite experts to join in the discussions

• Create space to talk, joke, and stabilize friendship

• Welcome new members

• Not miss out on discussions on the latest events

All the above mentioned points will help your forum to become popular and attract more visitors and build trust in your forum. Remember trust is the pivot around which the entire business operates.

To Build Forum Loyalty

Internet marketing forum, an SEO technique, paves the way for online community building. If you share your knowledge through this platform, answer user requests for advice, introduce them to more forums, and make the user feel that your forum is a know-all, then your forum will be the first place the user will turn to for any information and will consider you with high esteem as an abyss of information. People get addicted to forums if they enjoy the discussions and visit to the forum. They normally do not stray away from the forum and also help to increase the number of forum users

To Increase Traffic to Your Website

If your forum is easy to access, navigate, and retrieve information and if a user can easily get his questions answered, the users will not only make extensive use but also recommend it to their friends. Friendliness goes a long way in attracting the users and you will find yourself in top priority in their recommendation list. The best form of advertisement is still the age old technique of word of mouth. It is advertisement for your forum and guarantee of quality to the user. The higher the participation and the interest to learn and gain, the more will be the traffic to your forum with busy ongoing discussions that provide high quality links and of course better ranking in search results and you can enjoy the benefits of Search Engine Optimization.

To Build a Good Rapport with the User

Closely following the forum members' discussions will help us understand their needs and serve them better. A strong customer relationship is built by capturing values from our customers. Knowing the user will help us to update web content relevant to the business, thereby creating a powerful online weapon for our visitors to browse.

I think you now have enough reasons to say that Forum Promotion is just right for your company.

On-Page Optimization - Steps 4 & 5 - Link and Image Optimization

We have discussed on title, meta tag, and keyword optimization in my previous articles. In this article we are going to discuss on the last two steps of on-page optimization. Link optimization is the fourth step in on-page optimization and ensures that the linking structure is meaningful and correct. This increases the navigability of the website and makes it spider friendly. Image optimization ensures that the images on your website are displayed properly in all browsers. In case the browser cannot display the image, an alternate text is displayed without leaving the reader to wonder what could have been displayed there. Both these on-page optimization techniques increase the readability and navigability of the website and support search engine optimization (SEO).

Link Optimization

Any website will have both internal and external links. Internal link refers to links between the pages of the website and external link refers to links to other websites. It is extremely important that these links are properly set as it will affect the navigability of your website. A user will not be able to find the desired content from your website if these links are not correctly established.

Points to remember in link optimization

• Links should take the visitor to a site or page with useful information. Make sure that there is justification for having a link in that page and ensure that the link provides some useful information.
• The text that you provide on your page which indicates that there is an associated link is called the anchor text. Make sure that this anchor text is meaningful and instantly gives the user an idea of what he might expect to see if he visits the link
• Avoid unnecessary links and ensure that the structure is perfect in all aspects such as meaning, establishment of links, information, etc.
• Having your keywords/title on the link itself could be useful as the search engines attach some weight to it.

Image Optimization

Search Engines cannot read images and can only read text. So it is essential that you use some special tags and give them some meaning.

Points to remember in image optimization

• The text that describes your image is called Alt text or Alternate Text. This text should be short, descriptive, and meaningful. Keywords can also be used as alternate text. In case the browser is unable to display the image, then it will display this text.
• Give your images meaningful names relevant to the image. You can also make your alternate text or something similar the file name of the image.
• Use the Image Title tag and give your image a title. This title will be displayed when the user moves his mouse over the image.
• If you are providing a link to your image the link text or anchor text should be meaningful and relevant to the image.

Having read all my articles on on-page optimization you must now be having a clear idea on how to do on-page optimization. The major concern here is altering the content of the tags and placing the text in appropriate places. You can do it yourself if you have the knowledge, skill, aptitude, and time. If not, you can always seek the services of a search engine optimization company. But remember, search engine optimization is a must for every business as it can take your business to great heights.