Blackhat SEO vs. Whitehat SEO – In the world of SEO we can distinguish different “schools”, since there are many possible techniques to improve the positioning of a website. But the most important distinction is that of blackhat SEO versus whitehat SEO .
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Blackhat SEO
We call blackhat SEO the use of unethical positioning techniques or even explicitly prohibited by search engines. In the short term it is possible to improve the ranking of a website with this type of practice, but in the long run it is never worth it, since these practices end up being detected and severely penalized.
Among the most common blackhat SEO techniques we have:
Cloacking : creating a web directed to search engines (but unreadable for humans) and “cloaking” it with another web directed to users but that is not crawlable. Google’s rules include that the content directed to search engines and users must always be the same.
Keyword stuffing : repeating a keyword over and over again so that Google positions us for it, negatively affecting the quality of the content and the user experience.
Hidden text : another practice that violates the rule of showing the same content to search engines and users, in this case hiding texts with the same color as the background or small font sizes.
Spinning : automatic creation of content optimized for search engines but of low quality.
Link Trading – Inbound links should always be sourced organically.
Whitehat SEO
On the other side, we have whitehat SEO , that is, the one that uses only ethical positioning techniques and that have the blessing of search engines. We must always bet on whitehat SEO and keep in mind that it will provide us with solid and permanent results in the medium/long term.
Whitehat SEO techniques are the on-page and off-page SEO practices that we discussed above: optimizing URL structure and load times, adding headers, incorporating multimedia elements, guest posting, etc.
The Importance Of Mobile First Indexing And Best Practices
Today, traffic from mobile devices exceeds that from computers. And since Google is well aware of this, it has incorporated mobile first indexing into its algorithm.
The mobile first indexing consists of the fact that the Google algorithm first takes into account the mobile version of a website to fix its positioning. For webmasters, this means that the mobile web should be considered the main version and therefore should be perfectly optimized. To do this, it is recommended either to create a single version of the web with responsive design, or to use the Google Accelerated Mobile Pages tool, which is used to design websites focused on optimization and loading speed.
Seo Analysis: The Best Tools
To facilitate the task of SEO positioning and analysis , it is always a good idea to rely on a tool that can simplify our work. To get started, write down 5 of our favorites:
Google Keyword Planner –
The classic of the classics. Just by entering a keyword or website, you’ll be able to see tons of related keyword suggestions and data like search volume, competition, and cost per click. Of course, if you do not have an active Google Ads account, some data is restricted.
Google Search Console :
An essential SEO tool to better control your positioning, accurately measure the performance and traffic of your website and detect errors that can affect ranking in time. Its features include detailed search performance data, URL inspection, coverage analysis, and mobile usability review.
SemRush :
this tool is especially interesting for doing an SEO analysis of the competition. You’ll be able to see how many organic visits the competing websites have, how much traffic is paid, what links point to them and even what keywords they are using.
Moz :
Moz is an SEO software that includes multiple utility tools. Our favorite is Moz Site Crawl, which is focused on quickly detecting and fixing SEO errors. It allows you to quickly crawl a site and keep track of new and recurring problems, and includes graphs and explanations of the impact of each error.
SimilarWeb :
This tool identifies the keywords that are trending and the most viewed content for each site to help you increase the presence of each keyword and create more effective content.