Gray Hat SEO

Nothing is ever clean cut and simple, no matter what it may be, and SEO is no different. We've mentioned white hat SEO and how it is perfect for keeping your business on the right side of Google. We've even mentioned black hat SEO; which although can get you speedy, successful, albeit short term, results is deemed highly unethical and will ultimately lead to your disappearance from Google's rankings just as fast as it get's you to the number one spot.

Ideally you will have grasped the importance of online marketing and an SEO strategy implemented in the right way; white hat SEO will provide the long term success needed for business growth however some businesses have managed to find a shaded, middle ground that can get great results without too much of a cause for worry.

Gray hat SEO is often referred to as white hat SEO that doesn't entirely play by the rules i.e. these are the techniques that aren't considered as the 'goody two shoes' way of working but won't exactly get you into too much trouble if Google was to find out. 

Wondering if your online marketing has landed itself in the gray area? Here are the top three risky area's of SEO that could land your business a rather painful slap on the wrist...

• Automatic social media- There are countless programmes available that can allow you to manage all of your online profiles in an instant. Mass friend requests, simultaneous uploads and instant, churned out updates can make life a whole lot easier but are very much classed as gray hat.
• Social bookmarking is a popular strategy amongst online marketing agencies but paying for multiple accounts that instantly promote your business is utterly gray hat.
• Article Spinning- We all know that content is the key to SEO success however spinning one article so that you have multiple versions to spread across the internet is a definite gray hat cutting corners is always going to be shady.

Online marketing is a demanding area and thanks to Google's ever changing algorithm, requires a lot of hard work and sheer perseverance. Many may argue that Gray hat SEO is to some extent unavoidable and we can't help but agree but by being aware of just what you are doing and how Google's search bot's may class it; you have a better chance of protecting your business from punishment that could cause damage that you just don't need.