3 Black Hat SEO Methods to Avoid and Rank Higher for Your Main Keywords

Written by Pietre Zumas Wednesday, 15 June 2011 10:58

Bloggers know about search engine optimization, but only a small fraction of bloggers actually know the right SEO strategies. Ranking high on Google and other search engines means getting more page views and unique visitors, which makes SEO all the more important if you want to earn from blogging.

Bloggers know about search engine optimization, but only a small fraction of bloggers actually know the right SEO strategies. Ranking high on Google and other search engines means getting more page views and unique visitors, which makes SEO all the more important if you want to earn from blogging.

The truth is, these are underhanded SEO strategies that used to work, but don't anymore. And then there are effective techniques that are sure not only to get search engines to love you, but readers as well. To help you optimize your blog, here are three SEO pointers you should know of.

Choose Keywords Like a Pro. Choosing a key phrase or keyword is no guessing matter. To help you come up with keywords that are most searched for, use keyword research tools, such us Google Suggest. This service provided by Google gives you a list of ten key phrases and keywords connected to the very word you want to write about. Google Keyword tool does something similar: it compares one keyword or key phrase with several others with regard to how often they have been searched, both in your area and worldwide. Yahoo! also provides a similar service, called Overture. Remember that your title should also have the keyword for best results.

Avoid Quotation Marks in Titles. Did you know that the first words in your title are the ones that matter the most? Try to use strategic key words in the first part of your title - and veer away from dashes, asterisks, and other quotation marks. Search engines tend to disregard quotation marks, something that may change the context of your title and mess with how it is processed and indexed.

Don't Use Spam Titles. Do not use black hat SEO strategies when formulating a title, such as overloading the title with keywords when the content has nothing to do with it. Search engine algorithms are much smarter now and can detect titles intended to "cheat" the system.

If your blog has good content but you use a lot of devious SEO methods to get a higher page rank you just might get labeled as a spam blog. Stick to these white hat techniques and you shall find yourself at the top of search results soon enough.