white hat seo techniques (3)

910.302.3286 // [email protected] // www.DesignLoud.com910.302.3286 // [email protected] // www.DesignLoud.com

“White Hat” SEO Techniques

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910.302.3286 // [email protected] // www.DesignLoud.com

Why Everyone Needs to Learn SEOSearch Engine Optimization or “SEO” is essential for any website that wants to rank organically at the top of the search results. Unfortunately, this means that even the less tech-savvy business owner must have a little knowledge of what SEO is in order to hire the most qualified individual.

Many individuals can talk the talk but will end up taking shortcuts that can jeopardize your Search Engine Ranking Placement (SERP). In this presentation, we will discover various techniques that professionals use everyday to maximize the lifetime of a client’s SEO strategy.




But first, what is “Black Hat” vs “White Hat”?The phrase came around in the 1990’s and while both may accomplish the same short-term outcome, White Hat is guaranteed to have greater longevity. The way we describe it to our clients is that the difference between the two is in the strategy and tactics one takes to get a higher Search Engine Ranking Placement.




Page RankGoogle was founded in the 1990’s by two Ph.D students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, out of a garage while attending Stanford University. What made Google so great was that, unlike other search engines at the time, Google sorted a search query based on relevance and page rank.

At the time page rank was obviously a very important ranking factor. Fast forward to today and while page rank is still important, it is not as much of a ranking factor as it once was.

Page rank is determined by various things like: backlinks, keyword specific link text pointing to your site, title/links/content that your users would be searching for.




Meta DataMeta data is inserted in between the <header> tags of your document. Each document should contain meta tags. The most common forms of meta tags are listed below:

<meta name="description" content="A short page description which should contain your keyword at least once and be less than 200 characters" /><meta name="keywords" content="The keyword tag, is not a ranking factor, like it once was, however it is still considered, good practice to use it" /><meta name="author" content="DesignLoud"><meta name="robots" content="index, follow"><meta name="revisit-after" content="3 month"><title>Example PAGE Title</title>




Website Structure (Sitemaps)




Content Structure




Keyword DensityKeyword Density is very important in the sense that it is important you do not over do it or under do it. Search engines recommend a minimum of 300 words per page. Ideally, you want to have roughly 500 words if possible. Keyword Density is the percentage of how often your keyword is used in your content. So for example if your page has 100 words and you use your keyword 10 times the density would be 10% (this is considered black hat).

Generally, a good rule of thumb is to aim for a keyword density of 2% - 4%. When in doubt, write naturally and make sure your keyword shows up at least once. The worse thing is have too high of a density where you are considered spammy.




Keyword Density (cont.)Tips for using keywords:

Use Keyword in Permalink (URL)H1 tagH2 TagMeta title Tag (page title)Start of the articleEnd of the articleBold and Italics your Keyword and other keywordsImage alt tags and use your keyword as a linked text




BacklinksBacklinks, or “Link Juice” as we often call it, is an important ranking factor in search engines. It establishes authority and credibility with your website and domain. An effective backlinking strategy is thought out with the longevity in mind. You do not want to rely on backlinks that will provide a short gain but rather those that offer valuable information in exchange for the link.

Some ways to get backlinks:

➔ Guest Write For Another Blog➔ Quality & Relevant Comments➔ Finish Your Social Profiles➔ Submit to directories like DMoz➔ Press Releases➔ Ask to exchange links

Pro Tip: Relevant websites with high page rank and Educational/Government websites like .edu and .gov give high link juice.




Additional Resources & ToolsDMoz Directory (Free Directory Listing) - https://www.dmoz.org/

Moz (Premium Service) - https://moz.com/

SEM Rush (Premium Service) - https://www.semrush.com/

SERPED (Premium Service) - http://serped.net/

Small SEO TOOLS (Free) - http://smallseotools.com/

Google Webmasters/Search Console (Free) - https://www.google.com/webmasters/

Bing Webmasters (Free) - http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster/



https://www.dmoz.org/

https://moz.com/

https://www.semrush.com/

http://serped.net/

http://smallseotools.com/

https://www.google.com/webmasters/

http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmaster/


In ConclusionNow you have all of this information you should have the knowledge to start working on your website, your client’s website, or to hire a professional. Just remember, a quality website does not come cheap and you do not want to throw all of that away with a short-term gain or by not educating yourself about an ethical approach to SEO. Pride yourself on educating anyone who will listen (including clients) so that they can perform or make informed decisions in the future.

Thank you for following along,Derek Schmidt



white hat seo techniques (3)

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