No More Hats: High Risk vs. Low Risk SEO


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High Risk vs. Low Risk SEO

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What are your thoughts on using potentially catastrophic seo techniques on your website? Are these so called high risk techniques unethical? Discuss here.

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There are seo techniques that can get your site banned from Google if you're caught or one of your competitors notices and turns you in for spamming. These techniques, commonly referred to as "black hat" techniques, are the topic of many forum threads, and have brought ruin to many an unsuspecting optimizer.

Optimizers who use so called black hat techniques regularly have methods in place for managing search engine banishment, such as many, many registered domains.

What do you think about using high risk techniques to optimize your site?

Ammon Johns, in a thread over at Cre8site, removes the black hat vs. white hat seo distinction from the realm of morality and places it into more pragmatic terms: risk. (I also have to credit him for my title - his quote really got me started: "there are no hats.")

Throughout the thread I read repeated warnings against using high risk seo techniques - these are tactics that, especially if you're new to seo, you should not use, as you will not understand their actual risk and may end up causing severe damage to your business and livelihood. Beware.

Here's part of the thread that caught my attention, and the attention of the SEORoundTable blog, where I found Mr. Johns' concept:

There are three forms of SEO tactics:
1. Techniques currently rated as 'safe'.
2. Techniques rated as risky.
3. Risk balanced and risk managed techniques.

In WebProNews we focus on techniques that are considered safe. These techniques include content optimization (adding valuable content to your site), link building, and other ideas included in Google's guide for webmasters.

One site that lists some risky practices is blackhatseo.com. Its creator, awall19 from cre8siteforums, intended the site to get people asking questions at forums and I'm including it here for the same reason.

At the very least you should understand what the high risk techniques are so that you can report your competitors.

This article is intended to inform, and is in no way advocating the use of risky SEO techniques, especially not by people who don't know what they're doing and could ruin their businesses.

It's written with the same spirit that infused this quote from Ammon Johns, "to my philosophy, the SEO who refuses to properly inform their clients of all available techniques and the costs risks and benefits is not ethical."

I highly advise you read the Cre8SiteForum's thread, "Black hat techniques and what confuses me."

Enjoy!
Garrett French + The WebProNews Team

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Thursday, April 22, 2004

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5 Tips To Make Your Site Research-Friendly

By Jamie Kiley

Due to the wealth of information available online, the internet is a great place for people to research purchases before they buy. Consumers often want to explore their options by comparing various products and vendors before they make a decision.

Additionally, there are many instances where people know they need to purchase a particular product, but they don't really know anything about it. For example, I recently had to make a determination about which type of home insulation is best suited to the house I live in. Since I know nothing about insulation, I went online to research the question. This research process has to be done before I can ever hope to actually buy insulation.

Since research is such an important part of the purchasing process for many people, you should work to make your site research-friendly. Here's how to do it:

1) Condition your thinking.

If you are marketing to an audience who already understands the various options for the products they want to buy, then you can approach them from that perspective. But an entirely different approach is necessary for someone who isn't already familiar with the product or service. Adjust your thought process accordingly.

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About the Author:
There are 605.6 million people online. Can they find your business? Jamie Kiley creates powerful and engaging websites that make sure YOUR company gets noticed. Visit http://www.kianta.com for a no cost quote.

Get a quick, free web design tip every two weeks--sign up for Jamie's newsletter: http://www.Kianta.com/newsletter.php

Search WebProWorld:

To help answer some common "how to?" questions, we're in the process of implementing tutorials at several forums over at WebProWorld.

Today's forum cut comes to you direct from our Flash forum, where J_Paul will teach you how to loop movies using Flash MX 2004.

If something's bugging you or if there's a question you've been itching to ask, don't be like the quiet kid at the back of the class who was too afraid to raise his hand and contribute to the discussion. Go ahead and speak up!

|| Brittany||

Looping Movies With Flash MX 2004

By J_Paul

It has come to my attention from working with Flash MX 2004 Professional that there isn't a quick way to loop a movie a certain amount of times without using action script. To find a better solution and a quick fix for a friend over the week I have come up with the following solution. ...

...Click to read more

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