Gray Hat SEO is one of the three techniques that may come as riskier than White Hat. If not done properly, this may result to banning of your site from search engines and affiliate sites. Though many may find this technique a little ‘shady’, rocking on this technique for your site may be beneficial (given that you do it properly).

Ok, now that you have your list, go and check out the competition. The easiest way that I know to check this out is simply to use SerpIQ. It will give you a nice little “competition score” to let you know more or less how easy the competition is.

This is similar to above, but with one big difference. The content isn’t visible when you first land on the page. Instead, you can put several tabs or a “more info” button which will show the content when clicked. This way robots will see the content (which is great for rankings), but users have to click to see it; allowing you to optimize for conversion instead. While this does seem like black hat cloaking, since the buttons are functional and the content isn’t fully hidden, it doesn’t break guidelines. However, It’s still a very sneaky and frowned upon tactic.

If you use any of these tactics, use them strategically. Remember, they’re just means to an end. The ultimate goal is to improve your ranking and drive more traffic.
As the name suggests, gray hat SEO is not as clean as white hat. A giant chunk of the search engine optimization industry, from those selling services to those working on their own sites, lives in this gray space.
If you are registering and/or buying placements on low-quality directories, it is not good practice. A great importance is the value of that directory and if it proves to be a link scheme, well you know what happens, you’ve got the picture. A real question will be “Are there any good directories that I can register on?”. Yahoo has a directory that could fall into this category. They have a well-put set of rules; not everyone can register, and I think it is a good example. Before that, you should create an account for GoogleMyBusiness, Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin and then see what the best options are for profile and niche. Don’t do what everybody has been doing, be BOLD! The next question will be “Are paid directories held to the same standard as paid links?” and the answer comes from the one and only Matt Cutts.
Usually, PBNs are created using expired domains. This is because they already have link juice and that can come in handy when you are trying to pass authority to another site that doesn’t have so much. Yet, this is not mandatory.
SEO changed dramatically this past year, but many small businesses are still playing in what I like to call the gray area. We’ve always had black and white SEO tactics, but we’ve also had a few gray tactics that sometimes worked, but weren’t reliably effective.
Once upon a time, tactics were defined by a handful of search engines. Now, SEO tactics are defined and controlled by the big daddy of search: Google. So let’s quickly define what is a hat and what a hat means.
In the last post, we took an in-depth look at Google’s Panda and Penguin updates and how they have impacted on search rankings for businesses. Whilst we established that using black hat SEO techniques is likely to result in a site becoming penalized, we didn’t look at what’s known as gray hat SEO.
Multiple sites that are connected between them in a circular network to rank and get traffic from related websites create a webring. Sage Well was the one who came with a script to develop such concept in 1994, when it began to become popular before Google times. To be a part of a webring, you must receive approval from the webmaster. Even doing bad things became harder and harder.
A great article indeed, I would like to suggest that, though spun articles still work, but they should have some grammar and should make some sense. Spelling mistakes and bad grammar will harm your visitors and ranking as well. Reply
A prolific technology writer, Kerry is an authority in her field and produces content for a variety of high profile sites in her niche. Also a published author, Kerry is co-founder of digital content agency markITwrite, adores the written word and all things tech and internet related. More articles by Kerry Butters
Remember what we’ve talked about selling links? Well, buying links isn’t so far from that. Even though the site you are buying links from says they are qualitative, don’t get yourself fooled. It sounds too good to be true. Stop buying links to receive link juice. You will lose money and time for ranking. Not to mention that you will need to spend time again to correct the mistakes you’ve made.
If you do suck at black hat SEO, or just do it to make money and suck at it, well you’re a very, very special type of SEO. You, my friend, are an asshat SEO. Asshat SEOs aren’t SEOs at all, but they make money using our techniques while making the rest of us look bad.
Realistically all bloggers should be considered greyhat then, if creating pages for each keyword. I know most pages target 10-20 longtails and actually contain useful content (most of the time), but still the same principle.
It refers to an agreement between 2 sites to rank in Google. I will spoil the moment so you won’t get tempted by this method because it’s considered a link scheme and it won’t let your site appear in SERP anymore. The good guys run with the speed of the light when they hear about this black hat SEO technique. At a quick search on the internet you’ll find lots of sites and directories that offer links in exchange. They even make big promises such as free links, quality links for your niche, no footprints and you can even make money through their affiliate program. It is easy to do link exchange and rank afterward, but you will get penalized just as easily.
Thanks to all of the announcements and changes we saw from Google in 2013, this gray period is over. Link-building and keyword research are still incredibly important, but marketers should start to diversify their SEO strategies if they want to successfully incorporate more white-hat practices that weren’t on their radars in the past.
The possibility of your site being banned from Google is lesser compared with Black Hat SEO. However, the risk is still there and may result to a penalty. Techniques are questionable but nonetheless effective if with proper execution and of course, keeping up-to-date with Google’s guidelines.
A great article indeed, I would like to suggest that, though spun articles still work, but they should have some grammar and should make some sense. Spelling mistakes and bad grammar will harm your visitors and ranking as well.
Based on some of the points discussed above, it’s clear that Google believes that there are right and wrong ways to do SEO. No more directory sites, no more guest blogging for links only, and no more letting keyword research run your business. Nothing has actually changed -- you’re just held more accountable than you may have been in the past. Here are some top tips:
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Microsites are no secret. They have been abused in every way imaginable. However, I will say that the most benefit I’ve seen gained from them is splitting them up by niche for local services. For example, a law firm having one site for their divorce services and then another for personal injury. This allows you to focus on specific areas for each site.
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White Hat SEO refers to any practice that improves search performance on a search engine results page (SERP) while adhering to that search engine’s policies. In terms of Google, White Hat techniques follow their self-published guidelines. Some examples of White Hat tactics include using keywords, back-linking, link building, and writing content that focuses on relevancy, organic ranking and audience engagement.
Hi Brad, thanks for reading. I agree, I think it's wise to avoid any technique that could be considered grey or black hat, just not worth it.
In August 2013 Khalil Shreateh, an unemployed computer security researcher, hacked the Facebook page of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s CEO, in order to force action to correct a bug he discovered which allowed him to post to any user’s page without their consent. He had tried repeatedly to inform Facebook of this bug only to be told by Facebook that the issue was not a bug. After this incident, Facebook corrected this vulnerability which could have been a powerful weapon in the hands of professional spammers. Shreateh was not compensated by Facebook’s White Hat program because he violated their policies making this a grey hat incident.
By Kerry Butters A prolific technology writer, Kerry is an authority in her field and produces content for a variety of high profile sites in her niche. Also a published author, Kerry is co-founder of digital content agency markITwrite, adores the written word and all things tech and internet related. More articles by Kerry Butters
Gray Hat SEO is one of the three techniques that may come as riskier than White Hat. If not done properly, this may result to banning of your site from search engines and affiliate sites. Though many may find this technique a little ‘shady’, rocking on this technique for your site may be beneficial (given that you do it properly).Gray Hat SEO basically is a practice which is ill-defined by the guidelines published in Google. For many businesses, it may seem like a good practice to help their sites have good rankings off search engines.Appropriate understanding of Gray Hat keeps you from negative consequences that costs you time, money and traffic. We all know that Google is known for thinking outside the box and creative innovation. With regards to Gray Hat technique, this isn’t intended for search marketers or the searchers with the changes happening annually. So the trick now is to keep up-to-date and stay informed for its latest categorizations. What could be Gray Hat today may be White or Black Hat the next year.To define further how to go about Gray Hat SEO, here are some tips on how it works.Gray Content. If there are limitations to White Hat and stuffing with Black Hat, Gray Hat SEO works by working in between. Enough to be considered as White Hat but not enough to be considered as Black Hat. If you want this to work, you’ll need to work on high-quality content with keywords that sounds naturally in the content. You can also work on creating duplicate contents and posted on different sites.Gray Links. Purchasing links may be considered a Black Hat activity. But given that links may be exchanged for sponsorship of a certain event, then this is considered safe. Another way is to put your site in appropriate directories. Plan a three-way linking to avoid reciprocal links from appearing and boost your rank in search engines.Work with old domains. Old domain sites are maintained sites by webmasters but abandoned for some reason. Most of these sites are rich with content and backlinks so if you’re planning to have a website with backlinks ready, opting for an old domain may work.Replicate content. Content is the kingpin of combined SEO efforts. In Gray Hat SEO, replicating these contents can boost your standing in the search engine ranking. By using spinners, you will be able to duplicate a content – only with some minute changes. What these spinners do is create a ‘slightly different’ content off the original one with keywords and links in the content. Though creating a totally unique content may put your site at a great advantage, having spinned ones may do the same given that the duplicated content gives off the same organic feel to it.The possibility of your site being banned from Google is lesser compared with Black Hat SEO. However, the risk is still there and may result to a penalty. Techniques are questionable but nonetheless effective if with proper execution and of course, keeping up-to-date with Google’s guidelines.
Scott Langdon. (1970). The SEO Gray Area Isn't So Gray Anymore: What It Means for Your .... Retrieved on June 14, 2017, from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/231850.