Search Engine Optimisation

Many companies that operate online find that a higher volume of web traffic is good for their business, for this reason they will frequently make use of search engine optimisation techniques to improve their position on search engine listings. There are also many companies who specialise in search engine optimisation and other internet marketing strategies whose services are sought by online companies who believe search engine optimisation will improve their performance.

There are numerous techniques used in search engine optimisation, some which are not held in particularly high regard. Search engine optimisation techniques can be broadly categorised into the two categories black hat search engine optimisation and white hat search engine optimisation. Black hat SEO is usually frowned upon and included techniques such as link farming and keyword stuffing. Black hat search engine optimisation tends to be fairly ineffective in the long term and most search engines are capable to identifying these techniques and restrict the sites that make use of them from being indexed. White hat search engine optimisation generally will produce better and longer lasting results and the sites using these techniques will generally benefit as a result. Search engine optimisation techniques can be considered ‘white hat’ if they make use of relevant content for the users of the sites which will also be useful to the web crawlers responsible for indexing sites. White hat techniques involve no deception and conform to the criteria that search engines recognise as good site design.