Why use White Hat SEO for Business Growth?

The battle for online visibility is heating up by the day, thanks to the rate at which online businesses are coming up. For marketers, any method is worth trying so long as it promises to drive traffic to the landing page. That has led to the emergence of unethical methods of getting high search engine rankings and backlinks. This is what is referred to as black hat SEO. On the other hand, there are ethical methods of acquiring links and online visibility that are generally referred to as white hat SEO. Black hat involves a wide variety of practices such as buying of links, keyword spamming, link spamming, robot posting, and other design-based skills. Most search engines are made to resist black hat tricks. Pagers and content that has the characteristics of the black hat will normally be blacklisted and sometimes even banned by search engines. In the recent past, search engines like Google have tightened their guidelines to deal with back hat skills.

The first thing to realize about White Hat SEO techniques is that they have been around forever. They have been employed by SEO experts since the beginning of search engine optimization in the 1990s, and they will remain an integral part of any successful online marketing campaign going forward. While it’s true that many Internet marketers don’t see value in the techniques commonly referred to as White Hat, there are those who think of these techniques as essential to their success online, and there are still many more who would benefit greatly from learning about them.

Mobile First

It might seem like a good idea to ignore mobile users, but as long as there are still humans using internet-connected devices, Google will reward companies for making their content accessible and responsive.

Designing with mobile-first in mind is one of the most effective ways you can use white hat SEO techniques to your advantage, without sacrificing user experience. To double the traffic from search engines, try creating separate URLs for both desktop and mobile users so you don’t have to maintain duplicate content; use Schema markup, and make sure all of your images have ALT text on them.

Site Speed

Page load time is an important metric for your business. The faster your pages load, the more likely a user will stay on-site and continue browsing or make a purchase. When we look at Google’s top 10 organic search results, almost all of them are fast-loading sites (you can use Pingdom’s tools to test your own site’s load time). So how do you double traffic? Simple: by doubling your web traffic with these tried-and-true White Hat SEO techniques.

Use Schema for a Competitive Edge

Schema, which allows you to embed additional data in your page’s HTML, offers a way for search engines and users to better understand your content. Google, for example, can provide more relevant information about your business and its products through rich snippets. Many entrepreneurs choose not to use Schema for reasons ranging from time constraints to (frankly) laziness. However, doing so can be a great competitive advantage in an ultra-competitive niche like digital marketing or legal services. But schema takes work!

Focus on improving user experience

Search engines want visitors to their sites, but they also want those visitors to be satisfied with their experience once they get there. White hat SEO is all about optimizing your site for search engines and your users at the same time, so you get traffic and keep it. A white hat search strategy focuses on providing useful content, building valuable links (instead of buying them), and making sure your site actually works well. It’s not as simple as flipping a switch, but when executed correctly it can mean more relevant traffic than you ever imagined possible.

Invest time in proper keyword research

Keyword research is often overlooked but can yield tremendous results. When done right, your keyword research can show you what your customers are looking for and how they’re searching. What you choose to do with that information is up to you; however, by implementing strong white hat techniques, you can create content that ranks high in search engines while still keeping your reputation intact. Build out a solid keyword strategy around your core buyer personas and keep it current. That way when organic traffic comes pouring in from search engines, it’s coming directly from people who already know they want what you have!

The content should be of premium quality

That’s why you’ll want to ensure your content is white hat and not black hat. White hat search engine optimization refers to a methodology of building quality links naturally. For example, you wouldn’t just pay for random backlinks and try to fool Google by putting keywords in your anchor text. You would also avoid creating low-quality content or thin pages designed just for search engines (i.e., keywords stuffed on every page). Professional SEO services should always be done with user experience in mind—search engines shouldn’t be able to determine which websites get better rankings than others.

Include descriptive URLs

A descriptive URL contains important keywords and makes it easier for search engines (and your users) to find what they’re looking for. Descriptive URLs are also a lot easier for visitors to remember. In general, Google recommends using keyword-rich URLs, but you’ll be penalized if it looks like you’re trying too hard. So don’t go overboard – just use your best judgment when writing title tags and short descriptions. Make sure these describe your page well but don’t include only keywords – rather, mix in some context as well: Best bridal shower ideas: 20 Creative DIY decorating ideas for showers under $10 is a lot better than DIY Bridal Shower Ideas alone.

Ensure Internal Linking

If you’re not doing any internal linking on your site, you should start. Internal links are powerful ranking signals and can help both user experience and click-through rates. As a best practice, every page on your site should link to at least three other pages; more specifically, internal links should point to valuable resources or pages people might want to see. But here’s where it gets interesting: According to HubSpot, 77 percent of consumers say they are less likely to make a purchase after visiting a site with too many ads. It only makes sense that Google would take note of these results.

Ensure Image Optimization

While many people think about their text content when it comes to search engine optimization, images are just as important. Optimize your images for search engines by choosing descriptive file names and alt tags, always providing text alternatives for any images on your website, and making sure you have high-quality, large photos that won’t slow download times. You should also optimize your image size—you don’t want them to be too big or too small.

Focus on broken link building

It’s essential to create a link-building strategy in order to get traffic. One of my favorite link-building strategies is called broken link-building. It focuses on finding broken links and strategically replacing them with your own content, thereby improving your own rankings while making use of high-quality web pages you wouldn’t have otherwise been able to get links from. Find sites in your niche that don’t have working links; Reach out, explain what you’ve found, and offer them a better solution by providing a resource for them. Focus on broken link building!

Conclusion

If your business is not getting as many website visitors as you would like, stop using spammy techniques and use white hat techniques instead. These techniques will boost your rankings in Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) without compromising the quality of your content. Keep these 10 tips in mind, and watch your website traffic increase.