Definition of White Hat SEO

What is white hat SEO?

As its name suggests, White Hat SEO refers to natural referencing techniques that are considered legitimate, also known as ethical practices.

These aim to improve a website's position in the search engine results by using methods that respect the guidelines they impose.

In contrast, the term Black hat SEO refers to all the deceptive techniques that seek to exploit the flaws in algorithms to gain visibility.

The benefits of White Hat SEO

Why choose this type of SEO rather than another? Here are a few arguments in favour of the White hat SEO approach:

• Sustainability of results By following the guidelines of the search engines, you can ensure the long-term viability of your listing and reduce the risk of it being penalised by Google or other search engines.
• Traffic quality by improving theuser experienceyou'll attract qualified traffic that is likely to be more interesting for your business (tringles rate of conversionloyalty, etc.).
• Credibility of your brand A good image in the eyes of potential customers and search engines can only be beneficial to your reputation and success.

Pillar 1: Creating quality content

In order to master the fundamental techniques of white hat SEO, you first need to understand the importance of proposing quality content on the pages of its site.

Search engines attach a great deal of importance to the experience offered to web users, and this includes the relevance and added value of the content offered.

Editorial appeal

Successful content will arouse the reader's interest and curiosity. To achieve this, remember to :

• • Providing relevant and new information
  • Make your content a pleasure to read with an engaging tone and an appropriate rhythm
  • Careful visual presentation (layout, illustrations, etc.)

Pillar 2: Keyword optimisation

The selection and strategic placement of keywords are essential for successful White hat SEO. This enables search engines to understand the subject of the page and to assess its relevance in terms of the queries typed in by web users.

Keyword search

Before writing your content, it is essential to identify the terms that are likely to be used by Internet users when they are looking for information on the subject you are dealing with:

• • Use specific tools to analyse the popularity of each keyword (search volumelevel of competition, etc.).
  • Gather your keywords in a list to identify those most relevant to your article or website.

Placement of keywords

Once you have chosen your keywords, integrate them intelligently into your content:

• • Include the main keyword in the title (h1) and possibly a subtitle (h2).
  • Use secondary keywords in the different levels of headings in your text (h2, h3etc.).
  • Sprinkle your selected keywords throughout the body of your content, while being careful not to overdo it - as this might be flagged up as 'keyword stuffing'.

Pillar 3: On-page optimisation techniques

White hat SEO also involves a series of optimisation techniqueswhich will enable search engines to better understand and analyse the value of your website.

These actions may concern content, structure or markup. HTML :

• Meta-tags  Make judicious use of the `title`, `meta-description` and `header` tags to accurately describe each page of your site.
• Semantic tagging Optimise your content by making the most of the various HTML tags (paragraph/caption `p`, subheading `h2`, list `ul`...).
• Internal linking Making your site easier to navigate with relevant internal links that guide users to other interesting pages.
• Responsive design Make sure your site is suitable for all types of media (computer, smartphone, tablet), to improve the user experience and promote good search engine rankings.
• Fast loading the loading speed of your site is a criterion taken into account by Google, so you need to ensure that it remains optimal by reducing the size of images, using a cache, etc.

By taking care to follow these tips, you can ensure that you progress along the path of White Hat SEO and improve the overall performance of your website.

It's a long and rigorous process, but the results always pay off.