The debate about the differences in black hat and white hat SEO is one which will always rage, so long as SEO continues to exist. I have just given a talk at Suffolk Internet Marketing & SEO/M Specialists (SIMSS) about this very subject.
As promised here are the slides from the presentation - enjoy!
Created with Haiku Deck, the free presentation app for iPad
This all should be fairly self-explanatory and presents a very broad overview of the spectrum SEOs work in and how this changes along with the algorithm. For an incredibly polarised area of discussion I have intentionally tried to maintain an open view on black hat and white hat practice, if nothing else to provoke some further discussion.
For those who missed it, these are the questions I ended the talk on:
- “Can SEO ever be white hat if you’re gaming the system?”
- “Isn’t black hat SEO illegal? Or is it more a question of morals?”
- “What is stopping everything from changing again in the future?”
If anyone wishes to continue the discussion (whether they attended the talk or not), please do so in the comments below, it’d be great to hear your thoughts!
