SEO Garden
I was at a search engine conference in New York a couple of years ago and was discussing the fate of SEO, how the industry was changing and what could possibly lie ahead for those of us who make a living through Search Engine Optimization. And that's when I came up with the garden analogy.
As someone who has been an organic gardener for over 10 years, I have come to understand a great deal about the interconnectedness of soil, seeds, fertilizers, plant diseases, destructive insects and, most of all, patience. Although agriculture and the Internet are seemingly unrelated fields, I can see transference in much of the knowledge gained from the study of sustainable agriculture to SEO, specifically as it relates to "black hat" and "white hat" techniques for success.
Simply put, "black hat" SEO techniques are designed to "beat the system" and can produce quick and effective results, much like dousing plants with ammonium nitrate based fertilizer such as 'Miracle Grow'. However, "black hat" SEO is not a long term, sustainable strategy. By contrast, "white hat" techniques involve creating a content rich focus whereby a website will continue to improve over time. Positive results from white hat SEO may come more slowly than by using black hat techniques but the gains persist over time and do not require constant attention by SEO resources.
I like to compare "black hat" SEO techniques to 'chemical' agriculture. By chemical Agriculture, I mean farming practices that rely heavily upon chemical inputs - broad spectrum insecticides, chemical fertilizers and genetically modified seeds.
In contrast, "white hat" SEO techniques correspond to sustainable agriculture where crop rotation, companion planting, natural soil building and seed acclimation are the techniques of success.
When a farmer chooses to infuse crops with chemical fertilizers, he will quickly find out that more and more fertilizer must be applied every year in order to sustain high yeilds. Like chemical agriculture, SEO from a black hat perspective creates an unhealthy addiction to the various inputs supplied by the SEO professional. A website engaged in black hat SEO cannot stand alone and maintain its high search engine position for very long. If the SEO leaves the company or quits paying attention to the site, the website will eventually be "outed" by the search engines and will find itself removed from the search engine index.
White Hat SEO, like sustainable agriculture techniques, requires more planning and patience. It takes time to build healthy soil (or web content). However, once a foundation of quality has been produced, it can stand the test of time.
People often fall into the trap of judging "black hat" and "white hat" techniques and, if one believes Google is God, then that judgement certainly has some relevance. However, those of us who take an agnostic approach to SEO can see 'black hat' and 'white hat' for what they are, techniques.
For companies who have a brand and a domain name that is intended to be around for years to come, "white hat" SEO offers safety and sustainability and will create a healthy foundation for success that is not entirely reliant on an SEO resource. For companies who are looking for a quick sale and have no desire to create brand awareness, "black hat" SEO may make sense.
As someone who carries Cherokee Indian genes, I find it easy to connect with Native American wisdom that emphasizes actions with the seventh generation in mind. Are your actions good for your grandchildren's grandchildren? It is obvious to me that an agricultural system that depletes soil life and is addicted to petroleum based (fertilizer and pesticide) inputs is not good for the seventh generation. Perhaps there is a moral imperative to move away from this food production technique that sacrifices nutrition and health for color and volume.
As to SEO, a choice is available and it is essential that business owners are aware of this choice when hiring an SEO consultant. If the future of a domain name is important, white hat SEO is imperative. Otherwise, black hat is an option. It is when this distinction is not known by a business engaging an SEO, that it becomes a question of morals.
As someone who has been an organic gardener for over 10 years, I have come to understand a great deal about the interconnectedness of soil, seeds, fertilizers, plant diseases, destructive insects and, most of all, patience. Although agriculture and the Internet are seemingly unrelated fields, I can see transference in much of the knowledge gained from the study of sustainable agriculture to SEO, specifically as it relates to "black hat" and "white hat" techniques for success.
Simply put, "black hat" SEO techniques are designed to "beat the system" and can produce quick and effective results, much like dousing plants with ammonium nitrate based fertilizer such as 'Miracle Grow'. However, "black hat" SEO is not a long term, sustainable strategy. By contrast, "white hat" techniques involve creating a content rich focus whereby a website will continue to improve over time. Positive results from white hat SEO may come more slowly than by using black hat techniques but the gains persist over time and do not require constant attention by SEO resources.
I like to compare "black hat" SEO techniques to 'chemical' agriculture. By chemical Agriculture, I mean farming practices that rely heavily upon chemical inputs - broad spectrum insecticides, chemical fertilizers and genetically modified seeds.
In contrast, "white hat" SEO techniques correspond to sustainable agriculture where crop rotation, companion planting, natural soil building and seed acclimation are the techniques of success.
When a farmer chooses to infuse crops with chemical fertilizers, he will quickly find out that more and more fertilizer must be applied every year in order to sustain high yeilds. Like chemical agriculture, SEO from a black hat perspective creates an unhealthy addiction to the various inputs supplied by the SEO professional. A website engaged in black hat SEO cannot stand alone and maintain its high search engine position for very long. If the SEO leaves the company or quits paying attention to the site, the website will eventually be "outed" by the search engines and will find itself removed from the search engine index.
White Hat SEO, like sustainable agriculture techniques, requires more planning and patience. It takes time to build healthy soil (or web content). However, once a foundation of quality has been produced, it can stand the test of time.
People often fall into the trap of judging "black hat" and "white hat" techniques and, if one believes Google is God, then that judgement certainly has some relevance. However, those of us who take an agnostic approach to SEO can see 'black hat' and 'white hat' for what they are, techniques.
For companies who have a brand and a domain name that is intended to be around for years to come, "white hat" SEO offers safety and sustainability and will create a healthy foundation for success that is not entirely reliant on an SEO resource. For companies who are looking for a quick sale and have no desire to create brand awareness, "black hat" SEO may make sense.
As someone who carries Cherokee Indian genes, I find it easy to connect with Native American wisdom that emphasizes actions with the seventh generation in mind. Are your actions good for your grandchildren's grandchildren? It is obvious to me that an agricultural system that depletes soil life and is addicted to petroleum based (fertilizer and pesticide) inputs is not good for the seventh generation. Perhaps there is a moral imperative to move away from this food production technique that sacrifices nutrition and health for color and volume.
As to SEO, a choice is available and it is essential that business owners are aware of this choice when hiring an SEO consultant. If the future of a domain name is important, white hat SEO is imperative. Otherwise, black hat is an option. It is when this distinction is not known by a business engaging an SEO, that it becomes a question of morals.
posted by Slim at
9:39 AM
3 Comments:
How would you change your approach to farming if "God" changed the entire composition of the soil every six months so that existing sustainable crops just flat crumbled and, as soon as you agreed to leave the apple tree alone, told you not to that apples weren't important anymore but you weren't to eat the grapefruit. Then, when you'd gotten yourself weaned off grapefruit, you were instructed to eat only grains that start with the letter "O". Then, when you were fat and heart-health compromised, and you informed God of the effect of his "grain edict" he said, "crap! really? hmm. That wasn't the intent. We'll have to rethink that!" Of course, God wouldn't do that to us. But Google does. Just curious
By
rusty zarse, at 9:45 AM
Sorry about the mis-speak. told you not to that apples weren't important anymore was supposed to say told you that apples weren't important anymore
By
rusty zarse, at 9:47 AM
Actually, Google has changed very little in their approach to finding relevance within web pages. The sky is still blue, the world remains round, grapefruit is still good. What has changed is their ability to find "irrelevant" information, i.e., "spam" and remove it from their index. So, Google is not changing the rules, for the most part, they're just getting better at enforcing them.
Which leads to another point: it's not that SEO inputs and enhancements are altogether bad, it's the type of inputs that need to have distinction. A link from DMOZ is a good link, a link from a link farm is not. The question must be asked - "will this technique help me 2 years from now, or is it just a quick fix?"
Link farms, hidden content and cloaking are forbidden techniques in Google's guidelines. It has been well stated so it would be unfair to say they have been inconsistent. However, in the past, programmers could easily use these techniques to their advantage - now it's just more difficult to fool the Google algorithm.
Ammonium Nitrate fertilizers are the "food of choice" for our chemical agriculture society. Ammonium Nitrate was originally created as an agent for making bombs in WWII. Some of the first skirmishes before WWI were off the coast of Chili so the huge deposits of naturally occuring Ammonium Nitrate (sea gull poo) could be controlled. One of the primary reasons Germany was able to launch it's WWII war machine was because German scientists discovered how to create Ammonium Nitrate in the lab - they no longer had to seek out and harvest ancient deposits of sea gull poo to get the killing done.
So, where was I? Ok, back to 2006. Ammonium Nitrate does heavy damage not only to soil life, but to water supplies. This has always been the case but we are just beginning to discover the true impact Ammonium Nitrate has had to our soil health. It is only wise to take a look at alternatives to the status quo in order to make improvements. Unfortunately, governments do not usually respond well to elements that are harmful to society. Google, on the other hand, works constantly to get rid of anything that has a harmful effect on relevance.
Are ALL outside inputs bad? No. Actually, there are some very good alternatives to using bomb making materials to grow food. Composting and plant rotation are good examples. Adding redworms to the soil, companion planting and using biodegradable pesticides all produce positive results without creating other problems.
One of the best ways to add positive influence to a website listing is to get it listed in DMOZ. DMOZ is viewed by Google as being a highly relevant directory because of the human element. Humans have to read, review and judge each listing. It's much slower but it does enforce quality of links (unless an ultra spammer is a DMOZ editor - but that never happens, right?). This is much different than link farms or irrelevant sites being brought online just to create link popularity. It ain't perfect, but it's progress.
By
Slim, at 11:17 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home