sites - Adam Yamada

White Hat SEO Techniques, There are None

Another SEO article in response to a question I got asked recently. This question was about SEO and more specifically what White Hat SEO techniques I use.

Friend: “Adam, what are your White Hat SEO Techniques? What tools do you use?

Me: “There are None!”

You might think this is a strange response but that is the reality for SEO companies. I do mean that, there are virtually zero White Hat SEO techniques marketing and search engine optimization companies use to rank sites and build links.

Yes, White Hat SEO techniques do exist and people do use them. However, most of them are ridiculously time consuming. This includes guest blogging, submitting to article directories, social bookmarking, web directory submissions, straight up link requests, social media, etc. You could do all this yourself and do it all manually, meaning you don't have a computer program or bot do it. That's just not the way a lot of companies operate though and most will automate a lot of these tasks.

Big SEO agencies and firms that have a plethora of SEO tools and staff will still use programs to speed these tasks up. The reality is it's a pain-in-the-ass and they can spend money on SEO tools and software to do it quicker. The real question is why wouldn't you do the same thing? Even if you feel it's Gre yHat SEO or Black Hat SEO, it's what people do. Nobody is playing fair and it's not like it is a secret. I'll give you an example.

Lately I've been working on a local SEO campaign for a client. When I did a link analysis on the competitor ranking in the number 1 spot in Google I saw the company had a bunch of paid links in directory sites with the anchor text for the keyword phrase. Technically it is against Google's guidelines to accept money for a link or pay for links, but why would the SEO agency or the company ranking 1st care? They ranked the site 1st and did their job and the company is gaining business because of the favorable search ranking. Even it is a Greyhat SEO or even Blackhat SEO technique it's not like Google has caught them. I honestly doubt they ever will. It's been at the number 1 spot for quite awhile and lots of people buy links. It's been going on since the beginning of SEO practically and even the people in the 2nd and 3rd spot paid for links. So, what am I going to do? Recommend to this client we buy links from these directories and other sites to rank quicker, but I will explain Google's guidelines to him.

Get this through your head, just because Google says they don't like something or certain Blackhat SEO technique will not work, that actually is not always the case. Google tells you how they wished everyone acted and they wish the Google search engine worked. The way Google's algorithm actually works can vary a lot from what they say and can be quite frustrating for those new to the world of SEO. Follow all of Google's BS advice and you will not get anywhere. Most professional SEOs are going to tell you the same thing.

I will be honest a lot of the tools and techniques I use are not considered “Whitehat SEO.” I can't pull data in any other way without using some Google trickery. If you read my article on “6 Questions to ask a Search Engine Optimizer Before you Hire Them” you will understand why.

The big issue with Google is that they are out there in California holding hands telling themselves how awesome they are since they build self-driving cars and Google Glass. The believe everyone is in this internet thing together in a hippie commune and people will help each other out with links when necessary. That is never the case and if Google search engineers, especially Matt Cutts, wanted a reality check they should step out of their Google bubble and get out in the ‘real world' of trying to build and rank a website. They should also go read articles and posts that rank in Google instead of looking at fucking numbers all day, since nobody gives a shit about your algorithm. They only care when it doesn't work.

You might think this is jaded, but I am only trying to convey what reality is. If you want to compete I'd recommend you go out there and see what SEO Tools and Software you could buy to speed-up your link building. There are White Hate SEO techniques just… nobody sticks to them.

HostGator offering 51% off ALL Hosting plans Today!

UPDATE: I no longer recommend HostGator for web hosting due to slow sites and bad customer service.

I thought I would let people know about this amazing deal that HostGator is offering today only. You can get any HostGator hosting plans for 51% off which includes shared, VPS (Virtual Private Server), and dedicated server plans.

If you have considered buying hosting to start a website or already have a HostGator plan but think you need another for running clients websites or just want another account, then today is when you should purchase another HostGator plan. People who already have a hosting plan with HostGator are eligible but there are a few catches, like always.

Please note that current clients are eligible to take advantage of this offer on additional hosting accounts only. In order to receive the discount on an additional account, current clients must keep their original, existing account open and in good standing in order to continue receiving the discounted rate on their new account.

What's surprising about this deal is that HostGator is offering dedicated servers as part of the deal as well. Usually these 1-day hosting deals are only valid on shared and VPS hosting plans. Since dedicated servers plans are quite costly I am pretty surprised HostGator is offering the 51% off deal on dedicated servers too. I guess they figure most people will not want or need a dedicated server, which is accurate.

I have hosted with HostGator in the past and they are a great hosting company with excellent support. I am not hosting with HostGator currently, although this deal will probably tempt me back, I do recommend them for people getting started online. However, I do have 2 main complaints with HostGator;

Ads in cPanel: If you buy a shared hosting plan HostGator runs ads in the cpanel, which is backend interface where you manage sites. This really annoys me as I already gave them money for services, I mean you don't need to advertise in the backend.
Chat/Email Support can Be Slow: When I was hosting with them HostGator support was great. People on the phone were always helpful and able to answers my questions. I found email support took awhile to get back to me though and chat support was sometimes backlogged for 25+ minutes.

Something you might see people complain about on hosting forums is that HostGator is now owned by Endurance International Group (EIG). This bothers a lot of people within the hosting industry as a majority of EIG companies have sub-par hosting and support. Also most of the supposedly “Unlimited” hosting promised by EIG isn't really unlimited.

While you should realize “Unlimited” hosting doesn't ever mean truly unlimited, HostGator is the only EIG company where unlimited isn't something they just say. Someone I know who runs a WordPress Multisite group of sites that gets 250,000 plus hits a month on HostGator isn't anywhere near the limits of his plan. Few shared hosting plans, even EIG companies, will allow that sort of traffic.

Even though HostGator is not perfect my friend Aaron likes to say, “For $10 bucks a month, you can't beat them!” It is honestly hard to disagree with that. (It's $10 a month after the discounted rate if you choose to stick with them, which a lot of people do.)

This HostGator deal is valid today, May 29th 2013, until midnight Central Daylight Time (CDT) I believe. The coupon code for the hosting promo is OHSNAPPY. You should not have to paste the coupon code to receive the 51% discount though. The correct coupon code will automatically be inserted on all orders that are placed today when signing up for a new account. If you have an existing account it seems like you might want to contact HostGator billing to take advantage of the deal.

Dealing with Blogger Burnout

Recently I have been having what is known as “Blogger Burnout.” This is essentially the feeling of not being able to write or blog. The problem is not finding subjects to write about. I have plenty to write about and a lot of great ideas for articles and content. The issue is the actual enjoyment and willingness to write and convey my thoughts has become increasingly difficult over the past couple weeks.

It's hard for me to pinpoint and zero in on why blogger burnout is hitting me hard now. Part of it is that a friend of mine is also experiencing blogger burnout and is taking a break from writing altogether. While I was not happy to hear that, since he is a good writer with good style, I really understood and respected that decision.

I was analyzing what was making me feel down about the writing and blogger field. This made me look back at some of my articles I worked hard on in the past. Looking at some of my articles I thought to myself, “Wow, this is a great material… but nobody read it!” This might sound like kind of an A*&hole thing to think, but here are my 3 strongest and best written articles I did on my auto blog;

These were articles I worked long and hard on and I didn't write them to be SEO optimized or for massive traffic. I assumed the merit of the good writing would prevail… but that wasn't the case. While some got decent traffic and hits for a little bit most of these are not popular pillar posts.

That really gets me! I have written a lot of articles in the past just for the sake of traffic or to insight discussion to get a lot of hits. I mean I am not proud of it, but that is something everyone does.

The other issue is I have been writing and blogging online for quite awhile. While I think I have made great improvements in my writing abilities, I don't feel like I am at a point that I should be in my writing career. It's kind of depressing looking back and feeling like you wasted time trying to build sites and blogs but it just didn't workout or you went for positions or jobs which you didn't get.

I was going to write a list of ways to conquer blogger burnout. You know, because everyone loves list and that's great for SEO. Instead of me writing a list of ways you can avoid the ‘burn', which may or may not be helpful to you, I would love to hear other writers and bloggers experiences with being a blogger burnout victim.

How did and what did you do to overcome your blogger burnout? Did something inspire you? Did you take a break from blogging, writing and social media for awhile? Did you just decide to quit? Leave a comment and maybe you can help another writer or blogger find their passion again.

Catch me on Twitter @AdamYamada … if you can!