The Different Shades Of Search Engine Optimization: Are The Poor Practices Really That Bad?

There are numerous processes that can be used to apply search engine optimisation to a enterprise’s domain and enhance its organic search engine positioning. Many of these are good practices that should be commonplace to any webmaster. Some processes have more approval from the search facilities than others. This is the area of ethical and unethical search optimization.

Many unethical search optimization strategies have been rendered ineffective by adjustments to the search facilities themselves over the years, but some can still be used.

An examination of the website will usually suggest numerous mechanical adjustments that help to enhance its visibility on a search results listing. This usually results in the addition or alteration of page titles and descriptions to make it clear to the search facilities and to prospective clients the significance of the pages. It is possible to do so unethically, by providing misleading descriptions.

The use of keywords on web pages still needs careful consideration. Use of keyword metatags in the source code of a web page to influence the search facilities has been rendered almost worthless by bad practices in the past. stuffing a web page with irrelevant keywords to entice prospective clients, even by hiding those keywords on a page, could weaken the reputation of the website and the organisation that owns it. Keywords still need to be prominent enough in page content to make it easier for the search facilities and prospective clients appreciate the significance of the page.

Even the way a website is structured can be a problem. A search request should direct prospective clients to a meaningful landing page, not a page purely used as a doorway.

An arena very open to unethical practices is off-page optimization. The composition and distribution of documents to publicise the website is a painstaking process, and it is hard to manage. It should be possible to raise the image without being thought of as writing spam.

The terms White Hat and Black Hat are still used to describe ethical and unethical search optimization processes. They may have started out as comical terms, but the use has lingered throughout the discipline, becoming additional jargon in an already overloaded industry. It comes as no surprise that there is even the possibility of using Grey Hat strategies – where something is verging on unethical but theoretically can be used in an ethical way after all.

Most dedicated search engine optimisation consultancies will publicise themselves as using ethical strategies. Some search optimization specialists and commentators admit to using black hat methods and not being worried. However, even some of these optimization specialists have their limits. The feeling seems to be that any plan will do as long as it succeeds in elevating the organic search engine positioning but does no harm to innocent parties. There is nothing to be gained by harming the ranking of a site associated with a small charity just because it is using a keyword that you have decided to promote.

In any specialist field, there are always many different ways of applying the processes, and search engine optimisation is no different. Using ethical processes to enhance the organic search engine positioning of a enterprise’s domain will always be approved by the customer and the search facilities.