Search engine optimization or SEO is the most crucial element in a company’s digital marketing endeavors, and companies are beginning to realize the different approaches they can take to increase their SEO scores. While there exist effective and ethical ways of doing so which optimize a website’s digital presence in the long run, there also exist unethical ways or achieving optimization in the short run – the  former approach is called White hat SEO and the latter is termed as Black hat SEO. Explained below are both of these approaches to search engine optimization, including their core differences and what sets them apart.

White hat SEO – What is it?

According to a white hat SEO Agency Singapore, White hat SEO refers to practices and tactics that marketers may undertake to optimize and increase their SEO scores which are in line with the terms and conditions of renowned search engines such as Google. This majorly includes offering good quality content, mobile-friendly websites, a good UI/UX interface, and overall healthy approaches to search engine optimization.

Black hat SEO – What is it?

Black hat SEO techniques are defined as practices that marketers may undertake in order to wrongly increase a website’s page ranking on search engine platforms. Such practices violate the terms and conditions of renowned search engines such as Google. These techniques involve trying to manipulate search engine crawlers, using unrelated terms and phrases, providing low quality content, and link building in an unethical way.

Differences between White hat SEO and Black hat SEO?

While a number of differences exist between White hat and Black hat SEO techniques, the most prominent and important ones are highlighted below:

1) White hat SEO follows search engine guidelines and Black hat SEO doesn’t

While this is pretty obvious, White hat SEO practices religiously follow the terms, conditions and guidelines provided by Google to increase their SEO score whereas Black hat SEO techniques do away with such guidelines altogether. A crucial part of these guidelines is that marketers should not in any way try to manipulate the search engine’s crawlers and try to appear as a high ranking website in any way.

2) White hat SEO provides quality content for its audience and Black hat SEO doesn’t 

A fundamental part of White hat SEO techniques is providing good quality content for the website’s audience and traffic. The content provided in any respective form should be beneficial for visitors and educate them in a certain way. One of Google’s approved strategies is providing your audience with quality content that they can make use of. However, Black hat SEO focuses on merely placing keywords with little to no regard for content quality.

3) White hat SEO focuses on long term success whereas Black hat SEO is short term 

White hat SEO focuses on approaches such as user experience, website navigation, quality content and mobile friendliness – all of these things take time to achieve and hence are beneficial in the long run. White hat SEO techniques are more work intensive as compared to Black hat SEO techniques that only work through manipulation and all efforts are suspended once the desired effect is achieved. Black hat SEO techniques focus on short-term benefits and try to attain those in an unethical way.