While many of us might take the Google search bar for granted each day, search engines are remarkable tools that make the internet functional. Researchers estimate that there are nearly 2 billion websites currently online (Djuraskovic), with somewhere between 30 and 50 billion individual web pages indexed through Google (Georgiev). Perhaps even more mind-blowing is the rate of increase. Remember that the World Wide Web was launched in 1991, just over 30 years ago, and as web publishing tools have become more accessible, an increasing number of websites are created each year. In the last 8 years (since 2015), the number of websites has doubled. Siteefy.com estimates that 252,000 new websites are created each day, which equates to 10,500 new sites each hour (Huss).

It’s amazing that so much information exists on this thing called the internet and that anyone can access it from almost anywhere using a device that fits in their pocket. And perhaps even more amazing than that is the ability to quickly—often with very little effort—type in a couple of terms into the search bar and be connected immediately with the information that you are looking for. Out of the 50 billion web pages that exist in Google’s database, it finds pages that are (usually) relevant to your search and presents them in a search engine results page (SERP) that is easy to peruse, increasing your chances of landing on the exact right page that fits your query. The topics are limitless—daily news stories, historical documents, product reviews, travel tips, studies in academic journals, healthcare information, and so on. According to the latest statistics from Oberlo, Google responds to more than 99,000 search queries per second, adding up to 8.5 billion searches each day. That doesn’t include queries on other search engines, such as Bing, Yahoo, and Baidu (Broadband Search).

The point is that the content on any given web page is only valuable if people can access it. In chapter 13, we discussed the primary importance of an organization’s website, which is at the center of its communication strategy and houses key information about the mission, products and services, and daily operations of the company. In many cases, a customer can complete the entire buyer journey—from start to finish—online without ever setting foot inside the store. However, the entire process hinges on the customer’s ability to find the company’s website, so that when they identify their need and put in search terms to find a viable solution, they are connected with relevant resources and can quickly and easily discern that a particular website will provide the best solution. This is what it means to be “optimized.” In general, this term means that something is working at top efficiency so that it’s as effective and useful as possible. In the world of website design and digital writing, it means that the website is developed using strategies that not only enhance the user experience when they are on the website but also help them find the website in the first place. A web page with effective SEO (search engine optimization) makes it easier for Google (and other search engines) to find, index, and rank the page. The better the SEO, the easier it is for Google to distinguish how relevant the page is to a particular search and the higher that page will rank on the SERP. This is the most effective way to draw traffic to a website. In fact, compared to pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, the “organic” search results that emerge through effective SEO are approximately 20 times more likely to bring traffic to a website (Moz).

This chapter focuses on the fundamentals of SEO and how to effectively integrate it into a website to increase traffic and audience engagement. First, we’ll briefly review larger concepts of content strategy, branding, and digital orchestration so that you can see how SEO fits into this bigger picture. We’ll then look more closely at how search engines work, the benefits of SEO, and the specific strategies for incorporating effective, ethical SEO into a website.

The Connection between Content Strategy and SEO

It’s important to contextualize SEO in the context of an organization’s larger brand and content strategy. Otherwise, it’s easy to focus on keywords and lose sight of your larger goals, which are largely about building connections with an audience and helping them solve problems. Yes, a large part of content strategy is about traffic—bringing people to your page. But remember that you’re not focused on getting just anybody to your content. Effective content strategy is grounded in market research and careful planning that targets specific types of people who are most likely to be interested in the information you are providing. And once these people in your target audience are on your page, your larger content strategy helps them quickly and easily find the information they are looking for while also creating a positive impression of your organization and your overall mission.

In other words, SEO is an important tool that can create awareness, extend the reach of your messaging, and intrigue people in your target audience to learn more, but it’s only successful if it aligns with a larger content strategy that focuses on the needs of your audience. Julie McCoy writes that effective SEO drives “profitable traffic” and “high-quality inbound leads,” which demonstrates that not all leads are equal. A high-quality lead is someone who wants the product, service, or information that you are offering because it solves a problem or fulfills some sort of desire. Yes, content marketing is often about “nudging” people along to create new needs and desires they didn’t know they had, but ideally, there are already people in the world who have identified a need, and if they only knew about your product or service or experience and how it would satisfy that need, they would be eager to engage with your website. McCoy goes on to say, “To provide meaningful and useful information, you need to understand who your prospects are and what they need from you. This insight guides you in creating content with a purpose.”

It’s no wonder, then, that one of the first steps McCoy recommends for effective SEO is to identify and seek to understand your target audience. What are their needs? How would they define the problem they are experiencing? What types of things do they prioritize as they consider viable solutions to their problem? What are some of their other values, experiences, affordances, and challenges that would drive their decision-making process? You might recall that many of these questions relate directly to the section on audience research and personas that we discussed in chapter 9, and it’s a crucial aspect of content strategy because it guides all of your other decisions about what type of content to write and which channels to use.

More specifically, understanding the target audience and developing a content strategy that prioritizes their needs (as opposed to your own ranking) provides several important advantages:

• Useful content. You’ll not only get a better understanding of the search terms that your target audience might use but also the intent behind those terms—the type of information they are looking for, which will direct the type of information that you put on your website and provide direction for blog content.
• Engaging content. Audience research helps you understand more nuanced preferences about the best format for your content (e.g., a blog article, a video, an infographic, etc.) as well as the overall tone and design considerations that are most likely to engage their attention.
• Stronger branding. With a better understanding of audience expectations and values, you can highlight stories and aspects of your mission that build trust and emotional connection. What’s more, as you develop useful content that audiences want to share, more backlinks will naturally direct audiences to your content, and your reputation as an authority in a particular area will grow (Lyons).
• A higher ranking. Too many people try to “trick” the system to receive a higher ranking, but the real secret—the thing that Google prioritizes in its algorithms that index and rank web pages—is relevance (Sharma). The more useful it is to the audience, the higher it will rank on the SERP.
• Effective digital orchestration. Audience awareness helps your digital orchestration because you have a better sense of which platforms your target audience uses and the types of content that would be most compelling.
• More conversions. In the end, better digital orchestration and content strategy means that more people in the target audience will visit your website and persist through the buyer journey, whether that means buying a product, making a donation, volunteering for an event, or simply bookmarking your page as an important resource.

How a Search Engine Works

Before we get into the particulars of SEO strategy, it might be helpful to have a better understanding of how search engines work to find and sort relevant content. According to Google, this process happens automatically as web pages are added, but there are definitely key strategies that make it easier for Googlebot to access and correctly index content (Google, “Search Engine Optimization”; Google, “Googlebot”). Since Google is by far the most dominant search engine, capturing 90% of all searches worldwide (Broadband Search), we’ll focus on its process, which involves three basic steps (“In-Depth Guide”):

1. Crawling. Googlebot is programmed to constantly send out “spiders” that locate new and updated web pages so they can be added to the list. These spiders “fetch” pages by following the links on existing pages and then following the links on those new pages and so forth, which adds to billions of web pages that have been identified. Most of the time, you want Google to crawl your pages so they can be added to the index, so you’ll want to eliminate any potential obstacles, including broken links, multiple URLs that point to the same content, content that requires a password, and network or server issues (Google, “Optimize”). You can also block spiders from crawling certain pages that you don’t want to be indexed—an internal human resources page, for instance—which eliminates unnecessary crawling and prevents people from accessing pages you don’t want them to see (Google, “How Google Interprets”).
2. Indexing. As the name implies, this is the process of discerning what a particular page is about so the page can be accessed later on in response to a relevant query. This includes the content on the page that is visible to users—the titles, subheadings, and other written content. It also includes meta descriptions, content tags, and alt descriptions that can be used to label videos and pictures. Pages are more likely to be indexed if the content is easy to discern, if the content is meaningful and reliable for potential users, and if the page seems to be functional with working links and information that loads quickly.
3. Providing search results. This is where ranking comes into play. When a person does a Google search, Google tries to match the keywords from the search to the pages it has indexed in order to find the content that is the most relevant. The more relevant and high quality the content, the higher it will rank on the search engine results page. Although the precise algorithm Google uses to sort and rank pages is a trade secret (DeMers), the goal is to provide a positive user experience by providing meaningful content, which is why pages that don’t seem relevant or that are clearly trying to work the system with unintelligible keyword stuffing won’t show up in the ranking. Google says, “Relevancy is determined by hundreds of factors, which could include information such as the user’s location, language, and device (desktop or phone). For example, searching for ‘bicycle repair shops’ would show different results to a user in Paris than it would to a user in Hong Kong” (“In-Depth Guide”).

The goal of SEO is to improve a page’s ranking so that it appears higher up on the list of relevant pages and has a better chance of being seen by interested users. In fact, the number one organic result on a SERP (organic meaning it’s not one of the “sponsored” sites at the very top) has a much higher click–through rate (up to 10 times higher) than pages on down the list, and very few users (.67%) visit the second page of the results list (Dea). Think of the thousands of potential web pages that are probably relevant to a given query. Though a lot of quality pages exist with the types of content people are looking for, they have relatively low traffic to their site (and probably lower sales and weaker brand recognition) because their website isn’t optimized.

Here it’s probably helpful to remind you that Google’s algorithms aren’t neutral, and many people argue that they aren’t really about providing users with the most useful or quality information. “The internet has a reputation as a democratic space, yet the commercial interests that influence what we can find online are largely invisible,” said Dr. Helen Kara in a review of Safiya Umoja Noble’s book Algorithms of Oppression. In other words, Google is not as much of an information company as it is an advertising company, and even beyond the sponsored sites, Google privileges content that serves its own financial interests. That’s not to say that there isn’t value in optimizing your website so that your messaging is clear and easy for users to find. It’s simply a reminder that even in the most basic digital writing tasks—utilizing keywords, for instance—take on new meaning when you apply a critical perspective, which can help guide your writing strategies and expectations. The remainder of this chapter will focus on how to incorporate SEO into a web page to improve its ranking and overall visibility.

Creating Keywords

At its core, SEO is about identifying the keywords that the target audience will use when they search for information and then using those keywords throughout your web content so that the page is properly indexed and ranks high on the SERP for queries that use those keywords. As we’ve already mentioned, this is largely about understanding your audience—their needs, values, priorities, and potential obstacles—so that you can provide meaningful content that will engage their interest. But it’s also about understanding people’s search habits, which can be difficult to figure out. Most people type in a couple of words or a short phrase into the search bar, and Google tries to figure out their search intent—the type of content they are looking for (Backlinko, “Search Intent”). For instance, if a person types “ice cream” in the search bar, it might be hard to decipher what type of information they are looking for. Local ice cream shops? Recipes? Brands? Ingredients? Does the intent also include yogurt? What about soft serve ice cream? And what if the person spells the word wrong—“ice creem”? Google tries to resolve some of these issues using language models that fix spelling errors and include a variety of synonyms (Google, “How Results”). It also analyzes the search terms that are given and suggests ways that users might narrow their search. If a person types in “ice cream recipes,” for instance, they’d get a different list of results than if they had typed “ice cream stores.” You might also notice that as you begin to type in search terms, Google provides suggestions for popular queries. If you begin a search with “ice cream” for instance, Google offers suggestions to help narrow the search: “near me,” “cake,” “maker,” “flavors.” And then once you complete your query and review the results page, Google will often offer a list of alternative phrases that “people also search for” to help guide your search (Dakner).

As you can see, identifying a user’s intent is crucial. “Satisfying search intent is a primary goal for Google, which in turn makes it a primary goal for SEO’s,” says Dawn Macri, who goes on to explain that search intent should be the foundation that guides content that is specific and responds to the needs of different people at different stages of the marketing funnel: “From those who are still to discover your brand to those looking to convert, you can increase your chances of reaching them all by focusing your efforts to match search intent” (Macri). There are four broad categories of search intent:

• Informational: Searchers are looking for basic information about a term, a process, an event, and so on. They might include the terms “how to” or “what is” in addition to the general topic. For instance: “What is SEO” or “How to build a website.” Other searches may be about “the history of” a particular topic or “the main ingredients in” a specific food or “the effects of” a particular phenomenon. Thinking clearly about how people might qualify their search can help content writers implement a variety of keywords that match.
• Commercial: Searchers are looking for a particular product or service, and they’re beginning the search to weigh their purchase options. In that case, they might search for specific brand names, but they might also search more broadly for the “top rated” or the “best” or the “most popular” or the “most affordable” options. They might also provide geographical qualifications to specify a particular city or that they are looking for stores “near me.”
• Transactional: Users have done the research and are ready to make a purchase, usually from a particular company or brand. An example might be “Air Jordan basketball shoes” or “Scott’s lawn service.” Search terms might also include specific types of information the user wants to find related to a “subscription,” “pricing,” “package options,” or “making an appointment.” You can probably see how specific pages on a website, clearly identified in the navigation menu and as part of the URL, can utilize these keywords.
• Navigational: Searchers are looking for a specific website, but because they don’t have the URL, they type the name of the website into the search bar to help them navigate to the right page. Perhaps they are looking for the “login” page or the “home page,” or they might remember the title of the page.

Understanding these different types of search intents and the specific words users might use to qualify their search can be incredibly helpful in identifying relevant keywords. These are called “long-tail keywords,” which are more specific to the user’s intent and are less competitive than “short-tail keywords,” which are very broad (Yadegar). While short-tail keywords are usually just one or two broad terms that are very popular and relate to a much higher search volume (“ice cream,” for instance), they are also more generic and are therefore much less likely to match the user’s intent. Long-tail keywords are longer, including more specific qualifiers that are more likely to match intent. Though they have a lower search volume, meaning they aren’t as popular, they have a higher click-through rate.

In addition to understanding user intent and how that might help you develop keywords, there are several other important strategies:

• Create content categories relevant to your site. Here you’d identify the different types of information that your website offers and then come up with a list of keywords for each one. A local sporting goods store, for instance, might offer several different content categories on its website: clothing, shoes, equipment, equipment repair services. For each category, then, they would come up with a list of relevant keywords. The shoes category might include keywords such as “women’s running shoes,” “women’s athletic shoes,” “arch support,” “durable athletic shoes,” and so on.
• Research related keywords. When you put some of your keywords into the Google search bar, what other keywords does it suggest to qualify your search? What types of keywords and phrases are used at the very bottom of the search engine results page? These keywords can also be added to your list and help you think creatively about other possibilities.
• Use a keyword research tool. Some popular tools include Moz Keyword Explorer, Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, AnswerThePublic, and SpyFu Keyword Research Tool. These allow you type in a keyword, and they will provide a list of popular related keywords.

Of course, not all keywords are equal. Once you’ve generated your list of keywords, you might want to go through and prioritize strong keywords that have the most relevance to your content, that relate directly to your authority in a given field, and that are popular enough to improve your rankings. Matt Secrist suggests having three to eight keywords for a web page. The above tools can be very helpful in identifying the search volume of a particular keyword. If the volume is too high (indicating that it’s too competitive) or too low (indicating that people aren’t using that specific keyword), then you might want to eliminate it from your list. Google Trends can also be helpful to show the history of specific search terms and to provide future projections so your keywords align with search trends.

Implementing Keywords to Improve SEO

When you have your list of keywords, the obvious next step is to implement them in the content, which should be fairly easy, since the keywords were created to reflect the main ideas of the content. There are several ways to implement keywords effectively into your content to improve SEO:

• The body of the article. The article itself should include your primary keywords, but keep in mind that the text should still be reader-focused (not search-engine focused), which means that it should be meaningful content that flows logically and naturally. Some experts believe that Google and other search engines prioritize the first 200 words in an article or web page, since the introduction typically sets up what the page will be about (Clay). In that case, it’s important to use your primary keywords right away—within the first couple of sentences. From there, keywords should be sprinkled throughout the rest of the article. Secrist suggests using your primary keywords (the ones that are most relevant to your content) “once every 100 or 150 words” so that they are distributed fairly equally throughout and keep the focus on those main words. Secondary keywords should be included throughout also, but not more frequently than the primary keywords. Finally, the closing 200 words should also include the keywords to create a final impression and set up the call to action.
• The article title. Using the primary keywords or a close variation of them will also help improve SEO. It’s also helpful for readers to have a title that clearly identifies what the article or web page is about. Titles that are too obscure or vague are less likely to attract readers.
• Article headings and subheadings. Since longer articles (around 1,000–2,000 words) tend to rank higher in the SERP (Secrist), you’ll likely have some pages with multiple “chunks” that help break up the content and guide readers. Using keywords in the headings and subheadings is helpful for readers as well as rankings.
• Image alt text. Remember that images—photos, charts, tables, and other graphics—make your page more visually appealing and can help reinforce and clarify some of the main ideas in the text. So your page should have images, and you should take the time to label each picture using relevant keywords. This label is known as alt text. HubSpot explains that alt tags “appear in place of an image on a webpage if the image fails to load on a user’s screen. This text helps screen-reading tools describe images to visually impaired readers and allows search engines to better crawl and rank your website” (Becker). Most content management systems give you the option to create alt tags for your images.
• SEO title tag. Also known as the meta title tag, this is the title that appears on the SERP. It is a clickable link that takes users right to the page, so it should be clear and utilize your primary keyword.
• Meta description. This is a description of what the page is about that is displayed directly under the meta title on the SERP. It should provide meaningful information and also utilize your primary keywords at least once but not more than twice so that it doesn’t seem like you are keyword stuffing.
• The URL. Create meaningful URLs that utilize the keywords to identify what the page is about. This is also much easier for people to remember later, as opposed to a long nonsensical string of characters.

Other Considerations

In addition to utilizing keywords effectively throughout your content, there are a few other important strategies that will improve your page ranking and its visual appeal on the SERP.

• Creating content for a featured snippet. A featured snippet shows up on the SERP, just below the featured ads at the very top, and it captures text from a particular web page that Google believes will immediately answer the search query (Smarty). This is obviously a very prominent position on the page, which makes it likely to catch the user’s attention and increases the click–through rate for that page (Gorham). These snippets can appear in different formats: as a short paragraph, as an itemized list, or as a table. Featured snippets can also include photos as well as videos. To get an idea of the type of content that would be most helpful, consider what types of questions (relevant to your content) users are likely to ask and then provide the answer in a direct, clear way, using long-tail keywords and short sentences (no more than 50 words). Using headings, sectioning off the content with bullet or spacing, and providing quality photos and videos can also increase your chances of being featured. Backlinko also suggests doing a Google search for your primary keywords and then reviewing the type of information that is currently provided as a featured snippet, so you can get an idea of the type of information and the format that Google is looking for (“Featured Snippets”).
• Building internal links. Internal links direct readers to different pages on the same website, which can help them navigate your site and find the information they are looking for and keep them engaged on your site for longer periods of time. Internal links are also helpful for SEO because they help Google crawl and index all of the pages on your site. Google emphasizes the importance of writing clear “anchor text,” which includes the words and phrases that are visible in a hyperlink (“Search Engine Optimization”). Anchor text should provide a clear idea of what the linked content is about, perhaps using your primary keyword for that page. While an internal link isn’t nearly as effective as a backlink (discussed below) in elevating your page ranking, it does help to enhance the credibility of your content, especially if a page that already has credibility links to the new content. However, you’d probably want to avoid adding too many internal links because it might come across as self-serving and it “dilutes their value” (Southern).
• Building backlinks. The more quality, credible pages that link to your content, the higher it will rank. As opposed to internal links that point to pages on the same website, a backlink comes from another website, often directing readers to a helpful resource. According to Backlinko, “Backlinks are still the best way to determine the quality of a web page,” which is why it’s such an important metric in Google’s ranking system. The more authority that a page has (indicated by its own Google ranking), the more that it helps establish the credibility of the linked content. It also helps if your content is linked from a site that is authoritative in a content area that is relevant to your own and if it references your site in a positive way. Obviously, the best way to develop backlinks is by providing quality content that people want to link to. Backlinko also notes that certain types of content are especially enticing: graphics, lists, primary research and data, and “in-depth” how-to guides (“Link Building”). The Backlinko guide provides several other helpful strategies for building backlinks, including email marketing, writing guest posts on other sites, providing interviews and original research to the press, and targeting specific types of pages that would be more likely to link to your content.
• Using SEO Analytics. SEO analytics uses a number of metrics about how people are interacting with your site in order to help you identify weaknesses and make improvements to your SEO. The most common analytics tool is Google Analytics, which provides data about the number of visitors on a page, visitor demographics, average time on a page, conversion rates, bounce rates, loading speeds, and so on. This type of data allows you to identify patterns of user engagement so you can more clearly see what’s working and where your SEO strategy and overall content needs to be improved.

When it comes to SEO, there are some fundamental basics that must be addressed first—Googlebot accessibility and meaningful content—before some of the other strategies like backlinks and snippets can be used to improve a website’s ranking. Moz created this “Mozlow’s Hierarchy of SEO Needs” to demonstrate this relationship as one SEO strategy builds on the next.

SEO Guidelines: White Hat, Black Hat, and Gray Hat SEO

The main guideline for effective, ethical SEO is to write content with the user in mind, providing meaningful content that helps them solve problems. You’d focus on the aspects of your site that are unique, valuable, and engaging, and you’d put your energy into creating fresh, original content. That is what “white hat” SEO is all about—following the rules and best practices outlined by the search engine for the sake of enhancing the user experience. For instance, Google’s SEO guidelines provide best practices for SEO, mirroring many of the things we’ve already discussed in this chapter about providing clear tags and making sure Googlebot can crawl through your site (“Google Search Essentials”).

On the other hand, black hat SEO uses deception and trickery to rank higher on the SERP. It’s less about providing meaningful content for users and more about being noticed by search engines. In fact, black hat SEO utilizes strategies that often lead to vague, confusing, and disingenuous content that will repel users and weaken a site’s credibility. “These unethical tactics don’t solve for the searcher and often end in a penalty from search engines,” says Padraig O’Connor with HubSpot. For instance, Google states that websites that are caught using black hat SEO tactics “may rank lower in results or not appear in results at all” (“Spam Policies”). The document on spam policies goes on to list several examples of black hat tactics that may result in penalties:

• Cloaking—providing different content to search engines than what is provided for users. The real content is “hidden” to search engines to make it seem more relevant or useful than it is.
• Doorways—“website pages created specifically to gain high ranking in a search engine index and to manipulate users. These pages are generally stuffed with some keywords and phrases and lead to multiple similar pages in search results where each result takes you to the same destination” (Gordon). Users are often redirected to a different page without their knowledge, or they are tricked into clicking to the next page. For instance, if a company selling birdseed wants to get more traffic to its main page, “The Best Natural Birdseed,” then it might create several other “doorway” pages with slightly different words and phrases (such as “Best Birdseed in Indiana,” “Best Birdseed in Ohio,” and “Best Birdseed for Cardinals”) in hopes of drawing different types of people to these separate pages and then redirecting them to the main page.
• Hidden texts and links—putting “hidden” content on a page as a way of tricking search engines. Once again, the content might have keywords and other content that seems relevant to a search engine, but the text isn’t visible to users, maybe because the text is the same color as the background or the text is positioned off screen. For instance, having a white link on a white background means that it won’t show up for readers, but the search engine will see it and rank the page higher because of it. Google gives other examples, such as setting the font size or opacity of the link to 0 or hiding the link behind an image (“Spam Policies”).
• Keyword stuffing—overusing keywords for the sake of ranking higher on the SERP. “Often these keywords appear in a list or group, unnaturally or out of context” (Google, “Spam Policies”). Once again, Google offers an example, which overuses the keywords “app store credit”:
  • “Unlimited app store credit. There are so many sites that claim to offer app store credit for $0 but they’re all fake and always mess up with users looking for unlimited app store credits. You can get limitless credits for app store right here on this website. Visit our unlimited app store credit page and get it today!”
• Link spam—link-building schemes where backlinks aren’t earned but they are manipulated in some way, often paid for or in exchange for a reciprocal backlink. If, for instance, a realtor wants other businesses, like home inspection or remodeling companies, to link to their realtor website, then they might pay these companies to do so or offer to post reciprocal links to these companies’ websites.
• Misleading functionality—making users believe that they will be able to access certain content or features though it isn’t really available. For instance, a website would have more visitors if it claimed to provide a particular free service (a PDF merge, countdown clock, online dictionary, etc.). It’s misleading if visitors follow the link to obtain the service and are instead given more ads.
• Scraped content—stealing content from another, more reputable website and using it exactly as is or making only slight modifications. Like it sounds, this is a form of plagiarism as a company literally copies and pastes content from another website, perhaps even a competitor, onto their own page. Even if they change around a few words here and there, it’s still plagiarism, and Google notes that this practice often leads to copyright infringement claims (“Spam Policies”).
• Sneaky redirects—sending users to a different page than the one they wanted. In many cases, a sneaky redirect will make Google think that users are being sent to a page with quality content and useful information while in reality, they are being redirected to a page with ads and spam content. In some cases, users are sent to affiliate websites that provide some sort of commission to the original company for helping them increase their own web traffic.

While these black hat strategies might temporarily make a page rank higher on the SERP, most experts agree that they are harmful in the long run, especially if Google demotes your page or removes it from the results list altogether. This article by Chuck Price in the Search Engine Journal provides a few more black hat strategies as well as information about how to fix them to avoid penalties.

Finally, as the name suggests, gray hat SEO is something in between white hat and black hat SEO. An example might be creating quality content that is meaningful for users but also hiding texts on the same page in order to increase the number of keywords. It’s a combination of black and white strategies in hopes of doing both—providing useful content for visitors and manipulating the system to achieve a higher ranking. Gray hat tactics are still risky and can come with the same penalties as black hat tactics. The term “gray hat” also implies that there’s a bit of a “gray” area between good and bad SEO. What’s considered an acceptable SEO strategy one year might be considered unacceptable the next year, so it’s important to stay current on the latest guidelines.

As the internet continues to expand and become even more competitive, understanding how to use SEO to reach your target audience and build your brand is crucial to the success of your digital writing content. In fact, the number of SEO jobs has grown significantly over the past few years, and it can be quite lucrative as a profession (Montti), which demonstrates its growing importance. The most important aspect continues to be the ability to leverage rhetorical skills in order to understand the needs and expectations of an audience and to communicate effectively using a variety of tools. Similarly, critical literacy continues to be a key component of understanding the inherent flaws, limitations, and widespread effects in the algorithms of Google and other search engines and social media platforms. There are ethical consequences to the digital writing choices you make. The goal should always be to provide the best possible content to inform your audience’s perspectives, promote social justice, and connect users with the resources they need.