Being a marketing student, the term “SEO” is no stranger to us, but do we really understand how it works?
SEO is known Search Engine Optimization and is defined as a marketing process which focuses on growing visibility on organic content online. Based on live statistics, there are close 7 million searches just on google within a day!
Majority of us know that most businesses utilize SEO to drive traffic, increase awareness and to improve rankings but how?
In fact, there are 2 techniques for SEO which are known as White hat and Black hat.
So…what are the differences?
Black hat utilizes a set of practices which violates the search engine’s terms of use. Such tactics are usually used to yield a faster financial return that is deemed as unethical, causing the website to be banned. Some examples of such are spamming, duplicating content as well as Cloaking.
In contrast, white hat technique exercised integrity with the search engine and requires a longer investment period to achieve a better result. Some examples include offering quality content, using keyword-rich meta tags and making websites user-friendly.
Clearly, we can tell which tactic should be avoided but why bother?
In fact, we know it is illegal! Besides that, by using unethical marketing strategies, it affects the reputation of your company and eventually losing customers due to trust issues. I believe nobody would want to stay loyal to a company which uses dirty tricks right?
In conclusion, in order to lead your business into success and being sustainable, it is important to understand and use the proper way to increase awareness through search engines. In addition, to avoid any manipulation from third-parties using Black Hat SEO, always upgrade cyber-securities which helps to protect against such act from happening. It is better to play safe than to feel sorry later!
Digital Marketing 
Hi Huiru! You’re certainly right – SEO would be considered as no stranger to us. And I like that you have pointed out the vast difference between “black and white hat”! People would normally assume the superiority of SEO but often fail to realise the negative side of it. So great tip on keeping it from happening with the use of cyber-securities!
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Yes definitely! We are often unaware of the negative sides of SEO and assume it is fine to just use any methods to achieve the result.
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It’s really sad to see companies still adopting the black hat method when they obviously know it’s not the most ethical to do. More importantly, they should focus on achieving long-term results because it definitely won’t be worth if it backfires.
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I totally agree with your point and yes it is saddening to still see some companies doing it and for the fact that they knew that it was unethical to do it, it is even worse.
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Educational post on Black and White Hats! Some people buy likes for Facebook just to get more people to know about them. However, as you said its unethical to do and I hope that people will learn about the importance of moral and ethical usage of Digital marketing tools such as SEO, through this post! 🙂
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Hi Natalie, yes i agree! Well, i guess everyone thinks differently and it is difficult to control however, they must know the consequences of doing it unethically.
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