Black Hat and White Hat – Assess Your Risk Factor
Back to 1990 when internet marketing was just an ‘in’ thing, dividing the online campaign methodologies into two camps – Black Hat and White Hat – was apparent. Though they integrate specific tactics, still various versions of definition that you gather from different people regarding two categories will almost make you believe that ‘black’ vs ‘white’ magic is sort of ‘illegal’ vs ‘ethical’ in all practicality. Funny point is definition changes as you ask for views from many persons and all these different versions come with individual assumptions and viewpoints as well.
Every business owner who has already invested on online campaign or is thinking about doing so, obviously wear a certain hat, I mean, black or white. But how many of you know the exact differences between these two? I don’t think it will be a tiny slice of the pie. You should educate yourself on the technological and tactical differences between black and white strategies before choosing a hat and getting it implemented. Unless you don’t have a clear idea in this regard, you can never make the right decision for your marketing purpose.
For time being, forget about the ethics. Black hat is not the so called illegal activities for which you might get imprisonment. It’s all about deliberate violation of the BIG BOSS’s rules to get at the top-tier slot in Google’s result pane within a short span of time. It will surely affect the search quality in negative way and you will get ethical backlash for technical cheating. Apart from ethical implication of flouting the system, you might be confused about several points understanding of which is a must to take the right SEO path. Don’t expect me to give a sermon on a particular strategy (white hat will be top on everyone’s mind); I just want to elaborate on some points so that you find it easier to make your plan.
How much risk are you ready to take? There are a lot of persons who claim of having high-risk appetite while the fact is just opposite. Black magic means high investment, but you will get the result within a few weeks (just one or two, might be). Make an honest assessment of how much risk you will be comfortable with. Are you ready to take the risk of being removed by Big Boss from its index page?
Those days are a pass when you could manage with long-tail keywords to bring your web pages to the top ranks. Even if you played it hard, punishment was not severe. Those pages were simply ignored and you were out of the sight for a few weeks. But you earned a pretty figure and name to get support when you were out of work for the short period.
But Google has taken a tough stand and so risk assessment has become a big factor. I just want to make one point clear that sooner or later, whatever hat you are wearing, will be hit. So the need is to diversify your SEO strategy so that the ranking of your website earns more immunity to stay strong amidst regular Panda update.
Enjoy Friends..!!
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