I’m no newbie – but do we even really know what we are discussing?
I cannot accurately categorise a black hat.
What and who is black hat?
A few things that come to mind :
– Scraping other peoples sites and using them.
– Posting those pathetic links in blogs and forums.
– active cloaking where you present different views fo search engines.
– spam mail and email harvesting techniques ?
But what else? Can you elaborate ?
I ask because I’d like to know – and don’t really want to go nosing around black hat sites – as I don’t know what I’d catch.
:tongue:
What and who is considered white hat?
– Really basic websites with only a minimum of SEO optimisation ?
As soon as you start thinking about search engines does your hat start turning a shade of grey?
What and who is grey hat? (probably most of us)
– advanced SEO optimisation ?
– use of web2.0 social network sites?
– creation of mini-sites or small specialist niche sites that link to each other?
– variation of site displays depending on IP address or previous cookies ?
– active monitoring of SE keywords and stats ?
You see I do all the things listed in my GREY hat section.
When I create content I am aware that you need to get everything – and I mean everything – just right if you are going to get any penetration into the search engines.
So when does the person turn from white to off-white to light grey to dark grey to black ?
:wink-wink
This could be a fascinating discussion …