Grey Hat SEO uses techniques that operate in the middle ground between White Hat SEO and Black Hat SEO practices.
These techniques don’t clearly break Google Search Essentials guidelines, but they also don’t follow them completely either.
They push the boundaries of what Google considers acceptable for SEO.
Think of it as a balancing act between following Google’s guidelines and implementing SEO strategies that work but don’t strictly align with what Google recommends.
For example, creating great content optimised for Google’s algorithm is a completely white hat SEO strategy.
But buying high-quality backlinks that look natural to boost that content in the SERPs could be considered a black hat SEO strategy.
Together, they fit perfectly into the definition of grey hat SEO.
What Will I Learn?
The difference between white hat, grey hat and black hat SEO is how closely they follow search engine guidelines.
Here’s an overview of each:
White Hat SEO strictly follows search engine policies, guidelines and rules.
You only use techniques that search engines like Google recommend. White hat is completely ethical and a legitimate way to increase your search traffic.
The main focus of white hat is to provide value to users and use SEO best practices to make it easy for Google’s algorithm to understand.
White Hat SEO strategies include-
The primary goal of white hat SEO is to focus on long-term growth through high-quality content and optimisation.
You prioritise the user’s experience and needs above everything else.
Most of what you do for SEO should be white hat.
Grey hat SEO techniques don’t fall into either black hat or white hat categories.
They don’t necessarily follow Google’s search engine guidelines but aren’t strictly against them either.
As the name suggests…They fall into a grey area of SEO.
There is also a low risk of getting penalised with grey hat SEO.
Popular grey hat SEO strategies include:
Why are these strategies all considered “grey”?
Short answer – Using them is likely to improve your SEO, and the risk of getting caught by Google is extremely low.
But Google doesn’t want you using these types of strategies. If they find out, there is always the chance they will punish you with a manual action penalty.
Black hat SEO tactics are completely against search engine guidelines.
The focus is on exploiting loopholes in search engine algorithms to gain quick advantages in rankings.
These tactics are deceptive and designed to trick and manipulate the algorithms.
Typical black hat SEO tactics include:
The big difference with black hat SEO is you don’t care about adding value to the user. Your only focus is increasing organic traffic as quickly as possible.
The truth is that black hat SEO doesn’t work long-term.
Even if it works initially, Google will eventually catch on. You are trading any sustainable growth for short-term gains.
It just isn’t worth the risk.
Grey hat SEO strategies can be safe but must be implemented correctly.
Keep in mind that using grey hat SEO is not in line with Google’s webmaster guidelines, so getting caught could negatively impact your rankings.
But at the same time, quality grey hat SEO is very hard to detect and can deliver long-term SEO growth.
The risk level depends on how far you push the boundaries. Some Grey hat seo techniques are almost white hat, while others are closer to Black Hat.
The key is moderation.
Your website should follow all of Google’s search essentials guidelines.
The primary goal of content and the entire site should be to provide maximum value to readers.
This is all completely white hat SEO.
Then, if you choose to use proven “grey hat” SEO strategies correctly, the risk of being detected is incredibly low.
These are the most common grey hat SEO techniques that work:
Buying backlinks has a bad name because most SEOs and website owners don’t understand the difference between high-quality natural links and low-quality, spammy links.
When I hear people say that buying links is “completely black hat”, It just shows me they have a massive gap in their SEO knowledge.
The truth is that buying backlinks works and is almost impossible to detect if done correctly. That’s why every serious SEO agency buys links for their clients.
Let me explain:
If you buy backlinks from quality link building services, they build natural backlinks on real websites with genuine traffic and authority.
These kinds of links aren’t cheap because they are built correctly and get results like this:
Buying a cheap link from a site like Fiverr for $10 will get you in trouble with Google. These links are spammy, and Google can easily spot them.
Good link building services do things differently.
They focus on creating quality, natural backlinks by-
When done right, these links are impossible to distinguish from organic backlinks because they follow the same editorial principles as real websites.
The key is to ensure you buy backlinks from a trusted link building service with a proven process and a track record of excellent results.
A link exchange is when you swap backlinks with another website.
You link to their site and place a link back to yours. The result is that you both end up with a natural, quality backlink.
So, why are link exchanges considered “grey hat”?
Simple – Google doesn’t want you to do it.
The problem is that a 2-way link exchange is pretty easy for Google to detect. But the real secret is doing a 3-way link exchange, which is almost impossible for Google to identify.
This is called an “ABC” link exchange:
Cool, right?
The key is to find two other websites in your niche with complementary content your readers would find helpful.
That way, the links will appear natural because they actually help readers find more relevant information about a topic.
TIP: Link exchanges should make up 10% of your total backlink profile.
Link exchanges should not be your primary link building strategy to avoid detection by the Google Penguin algorithm.
Local citation services save you time by submitting your business information to hundreds of relevant directories.
These services ensure your NAP (Name, Address, Phone number) details are consistent across all platforms. This is exactly what Google wants to see and can significantly improve your local SEO.
Paying for local citations is considered a grey hat SEO technique because you’re paying a local SEO service to automatically build your citations.
But, as long as they drip-feed them through and only submit your business to quality directories, this is a very low-risk, high-impact SEO technique.
Offering customers incentives to leave a review on Google is completely fine and in line with Google’s webmaster guidelines.
But where it crosses into a grey area is when you incentivise only “5-star” reviews. This is against Google’s terms of service.
Now, no business owner on the planet wants to offer something in exchange for a negative (or even neutral) review.
So, how do you get around this?
Most local businesses will offer 10% off your next purchase or a free coffee if the customer leaves a Google review.
Basically, whatever makes sense for your business.
The catch?
The user has to show a staff member the live review on Google to receive the incentive.
Very few people, if anyone, will be willing to leave and show a negative review to collect the incentive.
It’s a clever win-win tactic that can significantly boost the number of 5-star reviews you have.
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