Top 5 White Hat SEO Techniques

shruchi nagar · 05-05-2009, 01:58 AM

1. Quality Content
When we first started looking at SEO as a separate entity to website build there was one phrase that we would continually hear, “content is King”, and it’s true. There is nothing more valuable you can do to optimize your site for search engines than offer unique well written content. A search engines aim is to serve up what it believes to be the most appropriate website for any given search to the end user.

Imagine we are the end user and we are searching for a portable air conditioner for hire. We go to our favorite search engine and search for the phrase “portable air conditioner hire”. In this imaginary scenario let’s assume there are only 2 websites that target that phrase,
Website 1
Website 1 consists of a single page with 3 paragraphs of text. The text tells us that the company does portable air conditioning hire and gives us a phone number to call.
Website 2
Website 2 contains 30 plus pages all focusing on various portable air conditioning units that we can hire, costs and technical explanations of how portable air conditioning units work.
Which website do you think the search engine is likely to offer to the user first? It’s a rather obvious example but it illustrates the importance of good content so your priority should be good quality content.

2. Use Structural (Semantic) Mark Up and Separate Content from Presentation
Semantically structuring your mark up helps search engines understand the content of your webpage which is of course a good thing. Making proper use of heading elements is essential because search engines give more weight
to the content within the heading elements.
Using CSS to separate the design elements from the content makes for much leaner code and makes it easier for search engines to find what they’re looking for, which is content. Remember content is king!

3. Titles and Meta Data
Providing pages with proper titles and meta data is essential. As discussed in the top 5 black hat SEO techniques section the meta description and meta keywords elements have been so misused in the past that Search
Engines now regard them as less important, it’s still important to use them and use them properly. Titles however still carry a lot of weight and when we think of semantic mark up it is obvious why. The title of anything is a declaration as to what the content might be, so make sure your page titles are a true representation of the content of the page.

4. Keyword Research and Effective Keyword Use
Create your website with keywords and key phrases in mind. Research keywords and key phrases you think people might use to find your site. Single words are not always the most effective target, try multi-word phrases that are much more specific to your product/service and you’ll be targeting end users that are much more likely to want what you are offering.
Use the keywords and key phrases you’ve identified effectively throughout your website. Assign each page 2-3 of the keywords you’ve identified and use the keywords throughout all the important elements of the page. Those are,
• Title
• Meta Description
• Meta Keywords
• Heading Elements <H1> <H2> <H3>
• Text
• Alt Tag
• Title Tag
• Links

5. Quality Inbound Links
Having inbound links to your website can be likened to having a vote for the good but there are good links and bad links so therefore votes for the good and votes that are bad. Good links are links from other web pages
that are regarded highly by the search engines and are contextually relevant to the content of your page. Bad links are links from web pages that aren’t regarded highly or potentially banned by search engines and have no relevance to the content of your page.

gobeyond · 05-05-2009, 08:23 AM

Thanks for the list. I'd like to add that SEO is a very dynamic process. You always need to pay attention to it and stay on top of all the changes. There isn't a time point when you can say that your SEO work is done. Many business owners have this misunderstanding that SEO is a one-time deal. So, they are surprised when their rankings and traffic drop a few months after they stop paying attention to SEO.

Natural Elements · 05-05-2009, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gobeyond

Thanks for the list. I'd like to add that SEO is a very dynamic process. You always need to pay attention to it and stay on top of all the changes. There isn't a time point when you can say that your SEO work is done. Many business owners have this misunderstanding that SEO is a one-time deal. So, they are surprised when their rankings and traffic drop a few months after they stop paying attention to SEO.

That's correct, good observations.

The problem when running a online store is that the SEO is just a part of the business. The SEO when done seriously is time consuming, observations, search, reading, patience, and use of different techniques.

Most of SEO comapnies do the work off site, which is limited. A good SEO need to be done off site and on site.

zeruel · 05-05-2009, 09:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

(...) A good SEO need to be done off site and on site.

Definitely true. It won't work one way or with just one technique. It is indeed a continuous process wherein certain changes will come along the way.

Patience should be applied to every part and corners of SEO.

EnhanceSEO · 08-19-2009, 05:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

Most of SEO comapnies do the work off site, which is limited. A good SEO need to be done off site and on site.

Very good answer and very very true!!

Natural Elements · 05-05-2009, 09:34 AM

Yep Zeruel

My turn ;-)

What the SEO companies don't get is that they take small business online selling products for a money machine or a slot machine.

To pay a SEO company you have to make as much as 3 times what they charge you just to reiumburse their service fees. I doubt you will make extra money for yourself or your company.

SEO companies charging big money are not for small businesses working online, only corporations.

On the other hand if a SEO company charge low, it is a great possibility that the techniques are unethical and will penalize you or your business.

The solution for small businesses like mine is to learn very well the SEO field before to hire people like, freelancers, and specific services from reputable small companies or individuals.

Reverse SEO · 05-05-2009, 11:00 AM

Greetings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

To pay a SEO company you have to make as much as 3 times what they charge you just to reiumburse their service fees. I doubt you will make extra money for yourself or your company.

I have had a weird day ... how does the math work here? So if a SEO company charges a client $100 for their services, then in order for the client to make any money on the project they have to have $300 come in from it? Can you explain this to me?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

SEO companies charging big money are not for small businesses working online, only corporations.

One of the issues i see with your statements are that they are so relative. "Big money" is something a lot of people may agree on, but is still subjective, or relative to one's perspective. A start-up may have $10k available for marketing, or they may have $50k, are these considered "big money?" What about someone who has only $2k or $3k? For me, if you use figures in the millions when talking about a marketing budget, that is big money, but i could see how for some it may depend if we are in the single digits, the tens, or the hundreds of millions if that is big money.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

On the other hand if a SEO company charge low, it is a great possibility that the techniques are unethical and will penalize you or your business.

I completely disagree that a low charge for SEO services can be directly translated to unethical techniques. To imply this is irresponsible.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

The solution for small businesses like mine is to learn very well the SEO field before to hire people like, freelancers, and specific services from reputable small companies or individuals.

If an entity has the time and resources to learn an industry or field "very well," then they really have little if any need for the SEO consultants. The reality is that people do not have or take the time to learn things like SEO. Most people, including SEO professionals, barely understand the internet, the underlying technologies of it, and how to intentionally operate in it.

Larger organizations may have the flexibility to build specialized departments which can focus on specific industries, fields, or just about anything. They can throw personnel and other resources at an issue. Smaller organizations often do not have this flexibility. Which means that smaller organizations usually cannot afford to have their employees learning entire new industries or specialties just so they can utilize that medium or mostly unknown resource. In real business, people waste a lot of time, and after they have done their primary tasks and wasted their allotment of time, they will not learn something new for the betterment of the company. There are of course exceptions where an organization may make it a priority to expand their understanding of the business markets in which they exist, however, this is by far the exception.

This is not to say that i do not agree with you in part. I do believe that before i go buy a car i should be somewhat informed about cars. Before i buy a 30 second television spot i should do some buyers due diligence. Before i drop $3k or $30k for "guaranteed #1 SE ranking," i should do some learning, but i do not think that people can be expected to learn new industries and expertise just to strategically and effectively utilize that resource.

I think networking with others, some common sense, some stinginess, and some good old fashion distrust should do the trick for most situations.

P.O.S. · 05-15-2009, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

On the other hand if a SEO company charge low, it is a great possibility that the techniques are unethical and will penalize you or your business.

I do believe it's partly true and partly wrong. Some SEO companies, like in Asia, charge smaller fees because the dollar rate in their counties is bigger than theirs. Like in India and Philippines, where a lot of SEO companies charge small fees yet deliver an excellent service. But not all of them can be trusted.

If you need help in link building but doesn't want to hire a company, then hire a single person or two, it's much cheaper. If you want to be sure that the person you hire does his job, then go and seek out for offshoring companies that leases their staff. I think it's much safer than hiring a whole company

Natural Elements · 05-05-2009, 12:05 PM

"$10k available for marketing, or they may have $50k"

If they've got $10k or $50K to put in marketing, it means that their business Online is at least a a $100,000 or $500,000 business which is not a small business for me because before generating 100k or 500k online you have to be a big guy.

Most of these businesses have brick and mortar store(s), multi websites, multi locations and are probably manufacturers.

"SEO services can be directly translated to unethical techniques"
Tell me what a SEO company or a SEO specialist can do for your site with $100 budget per month beside using a software that generate links, link farm, etc? A serious SEO company will not work under at least $1000 a month with a setup fees of $3000 0r $4000.

"I think networking with others, some common sense, some stinginess, and some good old fashion distrust should do the trick for most situations."

Completly disagree with that, and I will tell you why:
See Google, Yahoo and MSN advertising revenues, the search engines are providing the main revenues for online stores. What's why they worth millions or billions dollars, and companies spend thousands in advertising to target all their keywords. Even if you've got a big site, you will never target enough keywords with organic search, I mean top10.

The reasons are simple, if you are ranking top 10, your audience is targeted for your keywords. If you target the right keywords, the traffic provided by search engines will convert into sales.

Now you can network as much as you want, you have a very small possibility to convert this traffic into sales.

The only way a small business online can take advantage of the SEO is mainly because the owner run his business, know how to target potential customers, and he is actively monitoring his online store.

A SEO company cannot or don't have the time to completly understand all aspects of your business.

Reverse SEO · 05-05-2009, 02:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

If they've got $10k or $50K to put in marketing, it means that their business Online is at least a a $100,000 or $500,000 business which is not a small business for me because before generating 100k or 500k online you have to be a big guy.

Like i typed, it is relative.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

Most of these businesses have brick and mortar store(s), multi websites, multi locations and are probably manufacturers.

Which businesses are we discussing? I hope i am not being rude with this question. I seriously do not know which specific businesses you mean with the above statement, or more specifically, from where did you discern that we were discussing these specific businesses?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

"SEO services can be directly translated to unethical techniques"
Tell me what a SEO company or a SEO specialist can do for your site with $100 budget per month beside using a software that generate links, link farm, etc? A serious SEO company will not work under at least $1000 a month with a setup fees of $3000 0r $4000.

I agree that most SEO businesses will barely even talk with you unless you are passing them a thousand or more dollars. The figure of one-hundred dollars was used to keep the math simple.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

"I think networking with others, some common sense, some stinginess, and some good old fashion distrust should do the trick for most situations."

Completly disagree with that, and I will tell you why:
See Google, Yahoo and MSN advertising revenues, the search engines are providing the main revenues for online stores. What's why they worth millions or billions dollars, and companies spend thousands in advertising to target all their keywords. Even if you've got a big site, you will never target enough keywords with organic search, I mean top10.

The reasons are simple, if you are ranking top 10, your audience is targeted for your keywords. If you target the right keywords, the traffic provided by search engines will convert into sales.

Now you can network as much as you want, you have a very small possibility to convert this traffic into sales.

Somewhere the focus of this thread shifted.

Perhaps you misunderstood the statement i made, when i typed "I think networking with others, some common sense, some stinginess, and some good old fashion distrust should do the trick for most situations." I am not directly addressing sales conversions, but rather i am directly addressing the selection of an SEO company by a business. There are exceptions, as with many things, however, business owners, managers, and even employees in general should not be expected to learn a new industry or market just for the ability to deal with that market as consumers. If any of the two parties involved in the business transactions of a general business and an SEO company should be expected to learn the others industry, it is the SEO company's responsibility.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

A SEO company cannot or don't have the time to completly understand all aspects of your business.

I agree that the SEO company should not be expected to "completely" understand "all aspects" of their clients' business, and yet as i stated above, between the two, the SEO company should learn about their clients' industries to a greater extent than the client should learn SEO.

I still think we, Natural Elements and i, are off topic a little here, well, a lot actually. A consumer is responsible for due diligence when making a purchase. A supplier is responsible for ensuring their product(s) meet their consumer's needs as accurately as possible. In order for a supplier to do this, the supplier needs to know about the consumer.

@shruchi nagar, what did you hope to accomplish by posting this?

Natural Elements · 05-05-2009, 02:36 PM

Well if a SEO specialist cannot understand my points, how can he optimize my online store

Like I said SEO guys or SEO companies are just trying to take small businesses like slot machines. Everyday I received emails from SEO people, and that's just funny how they think my site is a money machine. They just don't understand my business

Reverse SEO · 05-05-2009, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

Well if a SEO specialist cannot understand my points, how can he optimize my online store

Indeed!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natural Elements

Like I said SEO guys or SEO companies are just trying to take small businesses like slot machines. Everyday I received emails from SEO people, that's just funny how they think my site is a money machine. They just don't understand my business

What do you mean in your analogy about slot machines? Do you mean that they treat your business like it makes a lot of money with minimal effort?

As to ignorant SEO companies, it is a good thing and a bad thing, depending on your perspective. Either way, it is a shame that professionals are so, well, unprofessional. The existence of such impostors improves the appreciation for actual quality SEO professionals. For you, Natural Elements, i could see how this would be both annoying and amusing.

I am curious though, if you do not see your site as a money machine, how do you see it?

Natural Elements · 05-05-2009, 03:05 PM

"I am curious though, if you do not see your site as a money machine, how do you see it?"

I see a contradiction in your comment: How can I see it if I build it and run it? lol

My online store is a small business like many on internet, and we are proud to provide to our visitors not only products, but interesting articles on tips, history and more, that any customers or visitors may like to learn, discover and read.

I forgot to tell you, everything on our site is unique

raven1083 · 05-05-2009, 08:15 PM

pretty nice post thanks for sharing this great infos about seo techniques

Jenie0109 · 05-05-2009, 09:20 PM

Are those White Hat Techniques? Or should they be labeled as On/Off Page Optimization Techniques?

nancyeben · 05-05-2009, 11:11 PM

Good tips to promote a website. but website is very tough to get at Google top by keywords web deign, web hosting, real estate, and computer. website should have a lot solid backlinks from high PR.