Black And White With A Shade Of Grey

Ethics are a funny thing when it comes to the internet these days.  Specifically, I’m talking about a sub section of the internet known as SEO.  SEO stands for search engine optimisation, which means, essentially building a website that is optimized for search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Bing.  There are a whole host of other smaller search engines, but those three make up the major bulk of the market.

When it comes to promoting your site with search engines in mind, there are primarily two things you have to be concerned with.  Those two things, are the content of your website, and the number of links point to your site from other sites around the internet.  Now, that seems simple, but as the old expression goes “the devil is in the details”.  How you create content for your site, and how you get other sites to link to your website can be accomplished in a myriad of ways.

While the official line of most search engines, is that you shouldn’t even think about building a site with a search engines needs in mind, most every successful site does it.  But, suffice it to say, there are some techniques that are generally considered more acceptable than others.  Those who follow the acceptable practices are generally considered “White Hats”, those the less acceptable practices are commonly called “Black Hats”.  While it’s somewhat less dramatic, it’s been my experience, that most webmasters fall somewhere in the middle.  “Grey Hats” if you will.  Datadial Hammersmith can help explain the differences.

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