Seo – Search Engine Optimization
The world of Seo is brutal. It's a war out there that is being won, in a big way, by a handful of people. Contrary to what many misinformed people believe, there are people out there that can rank for top keywords in a matter of a few weeks and sometimes a few days. When you read all the stuff from Google about how to stay away from someone that says they can guarantee you a spot in the top five (for example) because it can't be done, think again.
Elite Seo
There are two main problems about working with the elite Seo. The first problem is that they probably do not want to work for you. Typically, the top elite Seo work on their own projects and rarely try and help someone rank. If they do offer to help you, it will be expensive in both money and what they take from your site (think about that one). The other huge problem is that the elite Seo is a master of the dark arts. In other words, they can't be trusted one single bit. If you give your money do the devil, what will you get back? In an enormous majority of cases, the elite Seo will simply rip off the customer. There are many ways to cheat a customer. Often times, only the most intelligent and motivated customers will ever figure out how they were cheated.
Google is Right
So, Google is right to tell you to stay away from people that say that they can get you a top ranking. Why? You will most likely get ripped off. However, Google's reasoning that they can't guarantee a ranking is flawed. There are people that can certainly get you a very strong ranking. Google knows there are huge Seo experts that can rank for almost anything they want in a short time frame. What Google doesn't want you to know is that those people exist and that they actually dominate the entire internet. In fact, a few people control almost everything.
Black or White Seo
So, if you are new to Seo, you may not realize that the people that cheat are the ones that make the most money. That is a bold statement, but nevertheless true. Seo is really the science of cheating. However, is it really cheating to manipulate Google's computer algorithm. Some people think it is cheating and other people think it is fair game. Google thinks that it is cheating.
No black hat Seo will ever tell you they are black hat. Everyone is either white hat, no hat (black), or gray. If someone avoids the question, that might give you a clue. So, we take all the black hats and put them with the white hats and discuss a subject matter. Does anyone ever reveal what is really going on. No!! People never tell how they are doing well. In fact, most of the people that are doing great talk about how hard it is and the ones that are doing poorly talk about how successful they are. It's ironic how people are.
In any case, you can survive as a white hat. You can make it with one or two sites. You will need to create a lot of great content and work very hard. Over a two year period of time, you will have something worthwhile. Of course, the time period depends on a lot of factors, but two years is average. You can make enough money to live as a white hat, but will probably never be wealthy.
On the other hand, the same black hat Seo can be ranking, in the top, for thousands of sites in the same length of time. The difference is that the black hat can rank for all those sites with less effort than the white hat guy putting out two sites. The key point is that the black hat has almost everything automated and lots of overseas helpers. The white hat guy is typically trying to do everything on their own.
Black Hat Discovers White Hat Keywords
So, you work your tail off on some sites making great content. Your ideas are unique and even original. Then, a black hat sees what you are doing and in a two week time frame about 20-50 new sites pop up in that keyword area. There are some sites that copy yours outright to devalue the unique content. There are sites that simply plagiarize you completely. There are sites that take the opposite approach you took. In a matter of weeks, that #1 ranking is now down to #24. You start working harder to create more content and you find that it is impossible to compete with 50 other sites that are intent on taking you out.
What you may not realize is that those fifty sites that recently came into your niche are all owned by the same company. Sure, you can check the Whois data, but it is always faked. The sites will also appear to be old even though they were created last week. You can even check the Wayback machine and it will show you how the site used to look years past. Again, all the data is fake. So, what can someone do?
You can report the sites, but it doesn't matter to the black Seo. It's a numbers game. If you take out a couple of sites, they will simply come at you with a zillion more. Eventually, they will get that keyword figured out. You'll be out of business. They'll make millions.
All research shows that the black hat always wins over the white hat. In fact, in Seo, people often say that white hat is code word for no game. How I think of it is that those who are the creators are screwed by those that only care for the money.
What Can a White Hat Do?
So, maybe you want to be black, but don't know how or have any resources. Maybe you loathe black hat and want to do what's right. There is really only one thing to do. You can create a huge site filled with lots of great content that can't be easily duplicated. You can continue to work with people in your arena and try and get links from sites with high pagerank. In the end, if you work hard enough, you can keep out the black hatters. The bottom line is that you will only be able to focus on a few sites and you won't make the money that the black hat makes. As one black hatter told me, “I don't make the rules. I just follow them”.
If you want to own a keyword, try and own all the sites on the first three pages of Google. Once the black hat guy gets a toe hold, it can be awfully scary down the road.
The top mistake of a white hat is that they get complacent when their site looks as good as they want. The truth is that you have to work on it like crazy and in a big way. That's the only way you can get ranked above a guy with thousands of offshore employees and technical might.
White Hatters Usually Quit
What happens to most white hats is that they give up. There are thousands of people that start great sites that go nowhere fast. People often don't realize the huge amount of work they are undertaking. You can't simple write five or ten pages of information with some pictures and a shopping cart and expect to make it rich. That's a major pipedream. The hard truth is that you will need to create hundreds or thousands of pages of really good content. Did you think making money would be easy? It's not. One thing that the black hat guy has over white hat is that he knows that he must work harder and faster than everyone else. There is a day of realization for most white hat people and that is how hard and quick they must work to make a regular living. When people realize that, they usually quit. Then, the black hat comes in and takes it over. That's what usually happens.
The Bottom Line
Seo is all about trying to rank for keywords. This site exists to inform you on how to succeed in search engine optimization. Our goal is to let you see things as they are (no sugar coatings). We think that if you know what is really going on, that you can make better decisions about your search engine strategies and be more likely to succeed.
We, of course, think that white hat is best and encourage white hat to be followed. However, we feel it is a shame that the black hatters are getting much more powerful and richer than the true content creators.
| |
