the SUPER white hat SEOs ;-)

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

I had started 2 rather controversial discussions about SEO, stating, I thought even white hat SEOs were - in a few ways - trying to outsmart/trick the engines to get a better ranking..I don't want to start this discussion again (and I never meant to say it was a bad thing).

BUT:

Now, I have to say something very positive, too:

Imho independent white hat SEOs are probably more than just working 'with the engines'. They are actually working FOR them...they're the ones making search engines better.

Why do I say that? B/c seemingly every white hat SEO who's running their own sites is trying to find a NICHE - trying to find search terms for which users cannot find very good content - and then try to fill this whole by providing content.

Thus they're improving the search experience!

Just my thoughts...I have a feeling everybody won't fully agree, though . I just wanted to state, that in this regard I feel white hat SEO is definitely working 'with the engines', actually even FOR them (ok it's basically the same but 'for' has an even more positive connotation).

[HighConversions]

and has to. White Hat SEOs 'do' what certain search engines want them to do, but, the search engines also adjust their algorithms to make their results as relevant as possible. If all the SEOs went out and said 'Hey, we're no longer going to use Page Titles' and suddenly, all the page titles went away from websites, I don't think the search engines would value Page Titles anymore. I know that's an extreme analogy, but I hope you follow my point.

Its a group effort, not just one sided.

One thing I used to think was borderline 'Black Hat' SEO was putting RELEVANT keywords in picture alt text. But disabled users need those types of things. Specifically sight impaired who may use JAWS or other types of programs.

[clickagent75]

Although new to this field, I would have to say that White Hat SEOs also maintain or improve usability of a website.

From what I've seen, some high ranking pages with their various on-page optimization 'tricks' to gain their position has sacrificed the usability of their website to gain their top 3 spot.

What's the point of being in the top 3 if your SEO has garbled up your web pages to the point that your conversions will suffer from poor usability.

So White Hat SEOs aren't only ethical playing within certain boundaries...they are helping improve your visitor's experience as well.

[evilgreenmonkey]

I'm writing an article at the moment, covering some of the myths behind blackhat SEO, which I'll point over to once it's published. One point which I make in the article is that most professional blackhats use whitehat techniques on the brand site and other means elsewhere. There's no point in doing blackhat stuff if you're going to get your brand site banned.

With regards to "Super Whitehats" helping the search engines to make fair and balanced listings - who's paying your salary? your site/client or the search engines? If your site is judged inferior to 20 other competitors no matter how much unique content you stick up, is that OK with you? Or would you start link building, which (in most forms) search engines don't approve of?



Rob

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

yes yes superwhite hat was a bit exaggerated Ill admit it Those who read my other post about (even white hat) SEO being about outsmarting search engines probably know what I meant ;-)...I just meant to say, that....technically speaking.....independent SEOs are trying to find NICHES (yeah because it pays better :-)) and by doing that they're actually making the search experience better. Think about it like this (a bit exaggerated again): If every 2nd person out there became an independent SEO trying to make a living of it and all of them were trying to target niche fields (b/c they probably pay better), the outcome would be that...if you do a search ull probably find relevant content for fields where there isnt much useful content out there right now (=niche). But lets not get deeper into this, now.