Basic White Hat SEO Techniques - Internet

Previously, I spotlighted the tactics used in black hat SEO. Now it's time to take a look at the right way to do it. If you want to be rewarded by Google and other search engines, you want to be aware of white hat SEO techniques.

Many business owners and the SEOs they hire will do anything to get to the top of the search heap. But if you are overzealous and do anything and everything to get there, you will do more harm than good.

Let's do a quick step back for those who are unfamiliar. Black hat techniques are those that are shunned by Google and other search engines and are looked at as deceptive. White hat SEO techniques are those that "play within the rules" of the game.

Here are some of the more important white hat techniques to consider, which is simply another way of saying SEO techniques that work and won't risk de-listing your website:

Good Content

This is the ultimate in idealism, but it really can work. Good content is a must for search engine optimization. If you create quality content, or content that people get actual value from, chances are good they will link to your site. Good can also mean proper use of keywords, which is what we will talk about next.

Provide Relevant Keywords, Place Wisely

Good content and relevant keywords go hand-in-hand. Throwing up a page that is purely keyword driven without a thought of what value the content has is not a good idea.

After you do your keyword analysis and decide which work best for you, place it in various spots on the page (headlines, title tags, body, etc.) Try to keep each page focused if you can on one word or phrase.

Inbound Links. The Good Kind.

While some inbound links might fall in the gray area, such as certain directory submissions, they are in one form or another very important for optimizing your website. That's not to say submitting your website to directories is not a good idea - go at it! But there are various levels of quality. Directories vary in their search engine standing. Beyond that, content exchanges and voluntary back-links from sites who found value in your content all add up to telling search engines that your site has some form of authority.

One thing that has been publicly frowned upon by the likes of Google's Senior Engineer Matt Cutts is paying for links. If you do so, you risk losing page ranking for your website, at least on Google, according to Cutts.

Do the good guys always win? In the real world, of course not. That's why black hat SEO-ers will often find ways to do underhanded things to get better search engine rankings for their sites. You just have to ask yourself: is it worth the risk, or should you just learn how to get ranked the right way?