SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is an important aspect to rank any website on top of SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). For this very purpose, different digital marketing agencies use meticulously strategized SEO techniques for their client’s company. These strategies are developed by SEO experts who take into account various factors and work with different data points to rank the website on top.
You may have an idea of what White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO are, but if you don’t then please go ahead and check our blogs for better understanding. Has it ever occurred to you, which one is better White Hat or Black Hat? For a simple explanation, you can compare them with 1920s movies where a hero wears a white hat, basking in the light, thus symbolizing all things good, while a villain wears a black hat sprawling in darkness.
Well, now you must be thinking of Gray Hat. It comes somewhere in the middle of them. In simple words, you can compare the term with percentage ratio like if we mix 80% white color with 20% black color then we will achieve the color gray, and that comes while introducing this tactic too.
In Gray Hat, we use approx 80% of White Hat techniques and 20% of Black Hat techniques. In this blog you will be enlightenment on what is Gray Hat SEO, what are the gray hat techniques, why you should avoid it, and how is it different from White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO.
What is Gray Hat SEO?
Before going further let me introduce you what actually Gray Hat SEO means. It is a technique that SEO companies avoid to practice, as it is riskier than White Hat SEO. It is quite possible that if you use this technique then your website may not be banned from the SERPs but that too depend on the rules that search engine is following.
It is somewhere in the middle of white and black and if you want it to opt the same for your website then be sure that you are taking high risk. The Gray Hat techniques usually remain undefined and practicing it is like playing with fire.
So, I strongly recommend you not to include this as no certified SEO company would be interested to take such danger for the client’s website. You obviously don’t want to run your website keeping a fear in mind that anytime it could be penalized.
Why you should avoid it?
Proper use of Gray Hat SEO can bring an insane amount of traffic to your website and make your website rank on top but with negative consequences, because a little mistake can cause you the loss of thousands of quality traffic.
It is not something that you are willing to inform Google what you are doing. I understand that it is performed to gain high-quality traffic to your website but still it is something that you should not think about.
Moreover, Gray Hat SEO changes from time to time as sometimes it could be considered as Black Hat SEO, and with a possibility it could be considered as White Hat SEO.
You actually need a good team of SEO experts that can work on White Hat SEO technique so well that the need of performing Gray Hat SEO would be negligible. I know it’s tough to choose an ultimate SEO provider but doing some research before going for it is always a good idea.
Some Gray Hat SEO techniques you should be wary of
Following are some gray hat techniques that you should know:
- Cloaking
- Duplicate Content
- Purchasing Old Domains
- Link Buying
- Social Media Automation and Purchasing Followers
Let’s have a look at each of them particularly.
- Cloaking
Cloaking is a practice that shows users something different as results in spite of what they search. From Google’s point of view, it could be volitional so it is obviously a high-risk practice.
Cloaking is something that can come under Black Hat SEO practice and which, trust me, is definitely not a nice tactic to continue. It can be achieved by alteration of Meta information and tampering with the IP address of a site. You should never go for the alteration of meta tags on the gray hat grounds.
Doorway pages are also a kind of cloaking and are sets of pages where each page is optimized with high traffic keywords that direct users to one site. Keyword research is very important for page ranking. Well, here the users are directed and manipulated in such a way that they end up visiting a page they didn’t intend to. There can also be multiple pages on the same site having general keywords so that more users are directed to the same website.
It can irritate the users which can result in reporting your website that will surely not good for your website.
- Duplicate content
Content is quite important because it gives information to the users. Let’s say, for an example, a user comes to your website to avail web-designing service, so to convert that user into customer you need to provide proper information through your content.
Sometimes we don’t have enough time to write a new content. The way that I’m going to introduce you is quiet risky but may work sometime. So, what you can do is, you can create a duplicate content with the help of different tools. Still I prefer you to write a whole new one.
But still, if you don’t have enough time it is better to hire an SEO company that can provide you SEO experts that have enough experience in content writing instead of going for duplicate content. These are well-skilled writers and know how to write great content and how to create different openings like “How to” content or “A guide to” content. They can also run content marketing campaigns effectively.
- Purchasing old domains
Old domains are generally abandoned by the web that is further purchased by some websites to provide backlinks and to rank the website by doing so. There are also some links that are not used by owners that much.
Using them can cause much trouble and could terribly affect your website. You can always outsource backlink services to a certified SEO company where they know how to embrace the process of linking that can benefit your website.
- Link buying
My recommendation is please don’t go for this tactic as; if Google finds you then there is a high possibility that your website will be banned. Not only this, all the investment on your website by you would be a waste. However, you can use genuine links but make sure that it’s free and no cash is exchanged.
There are lots of scary stories related to guest blogging that can harm your website badly but again if no cash is included then there is no issue. Furthermore, you can exchange links for sponsorship of events.
Still, my suggestion is for you to learn link-building techniques or you can hire SEO service providers that can develop a proper strategy for it and can run an SEO campaign to achieve the goals.
- Social media automation and purchasing followers
For social media automation, you can use different tools that auto-follow or un-follow thousands of social media users. This is something that can directly come into the category of Gray Hat SEO as it is not blacklisted by Google yet.
On the other hand, buying followers may look like a great approach but let me ensure you that it’s not as great as it looks. You are not going to be stand out in the crowd and as there is no engagement, you may increase the risk of infecting genuine followers with some malwares. Originally, getting tons of followers is not an overnight thing, it takes time but it’s worthy. In the end, you will be blessed with genuine followers who really want to follow your about you.
Social media marketing is the best way to do so. It is more like a professional tactic so you can get the help of SEO service providers to get social media reseller services.
So, by this time you must have gotten an idea that using Gray Hat SEO is not a great preference, but if you using White Hat SEO instead then there is no risk at all. Using White Hat SEO is far better than using Gray Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO as using the later ones is a total risk.
How Gray Hat SEO is different from White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO
Excluding the fact that white hat, black hat and Gray Hat SEO have different explanations, they are different in other ways too. There are some other differences that are explained below.
Risk
If you are implementing black hat, or gray hat techniques then just keep that in mind that they all come with a risk.
As the name suggests, the riskiest one is Black Hat SEO. Using this technique can cause lots of trouble because the tactics used here are illicit. Here, if you are going against search engine guidelines and you are caught then your website may be banned and all the investments would be for nothing.
White Hat SEO is for sure risk-free but the chances that it won’t work are high. If all the websites are working under the rules then there won’t be any issue but that’s like daydreaming. The website owners that are using Black Hat techniques are definitely going to crush you. So, if you are willing to play with the rules then be ready to scarify ranking in some aspects, but surely it’s the best way because it comes with the word “risk free”.
Now let’s talk about our main topic the Gray Hat SEO, this technique has the risk that the website may be penalized. If you are following it then at some point when the search engine is lenient your webpage will rank, but the risk is still out there because as the search engine will tighten up the possibility of being caught will be high. So it’s better to avoid both Gray Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO.
Durability
Black Hat techniques are a short-term method that can boost your website’s search engine ranking in a very short period of time. But trust me, if you are caught by search engines, then your website, like the success of these techniques, will also become short-lived.
Investing time and money in developing this technique is a total waste and the links placed here might be a waste too.
White Hat, on the other hand, is a long-term technique as it works under total rules and regulations. If the search engine is on to the mission to promote quality then it is quite possible that the parameters to critic quality will change and the one which was used to count before will be totally out of line.
So, now talking about the Gray Hat tactics, it may fall under more critical observation. The effectiveness of it on the website may reduce as time passes. Depending on the number of techniques and the way you are using the techniques can affect the search engine ranking on SERPs.
Alternatives for Gray Hat SEO techniques
Well, now you may have made a choice whether to use Gray Hat SEO or not, and if you determined to use this technique, then here are some extra ideas that you can use instead of including Gray Hat SEO practice in your website.
- Add length to your old content
Long contents are always preferred over shorter ones. Google itself loves long content. An SEO company is always keen to add length to the already existing content and develop an SEO strategy for this content.
Adding length to your old blogs is always helpful so try to add more words to the existing content to make it rank. An ideal content must be over 2000 words. This is what you can do to avoid duplicate content.
- Take advantage of the right keyword density
Just remember that here we are talking about relevant keywords and not about keyword stuffing. Stuffing high traffic keywords to the webpage can hurt your search engine ranking, but maintaining the keyword density can rank the website magically. In short, your content should not look stiff because of keyword insertion.
Many SEO service providers use different tools like Google Ads keyword planner tool or Google Trends for keyword research. You can choose one too to find relevant keywords for your content and can secure yourself from using gray hat technique.
- Social bookmarking sites
If you are submitting the links of your website on social bookmarking sites, it can definitely help your SEO campaign. But make sure that you don’t overdo it. The best approach is that you should share links once or twice on these sites.
This will protect you from purchasing old links plus you will gain genuine customers.
- Submit your website to web directories
In order to gain relevant, high-quality, free backlinks you can submit your website to web directories. Here, you can list your websites to the web directories under different categories.
Just have some research before choosing web directories and submit your website only to those who have the ability to generate high-quality backlinks. In this way you don’t need buy old techniques that will also minimize the risk of running the website.
- Get positive reviews
Getting positive reviews is always advantageous as it helps your website to expand visibility on Google SERPs. The search engine ranking will also get better and the trust for your brand in the customer’s eye will also increase.
Wrap up
By now, you must be had gotten an idea of what Gray Hat SEO is, why you should avoid it and why a certified digital marketing service provider always recommend you to stay away from it. The SEO strategy that is developed using this tactic may shoot up your rankings and increase visibility, but it is mostly short-lived. It is a fact, that the use of gray hat techniques put your website at complete risk of being penalized.
Gray hat techniques may seem interesting and profiting, but it is never worth the risk of putting your website in jeopardy.
While it’s up to you that whether you are willing to take the risk or not, but I strongly recommend you not to use it. SEO experts can develop a perfect SEO strategy using white hat techniques, so that you can rank your website without engaging yourself with the above illicit technique. These professionals are highly skilled, so they all are well-aware of the consequences if anything goes wrong on your website. If the SEO provider you choose is certified and have a reputation in market for their fair practices, then feel free as they know what kind of campaign can profit your website.
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