4. Link Building:-

One should implement effective link-building. Backlinking refers to the process of getting links from other Websites to one's site. The links from external Websites are called backlinks. Ensure the links are built from trustworthy sources as search engines trust the backlinks from reliable sites. example of backlinks where the link to Amazon is published on the CNN Website.

Black Hat, White Hat, and Gray Hat SEO

SEO practices that users should implement can fall under three approaches: Black Hat, White Hat, and Gray Hat.

1. Black Hat SEO:-

SEO practices created against search engine guidelines are categorized as black hat SEO. It is unethical. Following are some of the black hat techniques:

• Cloaking: This refers to showing different content to users and different content to search engines.
  
  
• Stealing content: This refers to copying content from a different website and publishing it on one's site.
  
  
• Keyword stuffing: This refers to overusing keywords on a page.
  
  

Note that the current search engine algorithms are advanced and can detect most unethical practices. Website developers and administrators must be extra careful to avoid these techniques.

2. White Hat SEO:-

SEO practices that follow the search engine guidelines are categorized as white hat SEO. Features of white hat SEO content include:

• Rich information
• Quality content
• Use of different media, such as images and videos
• Structured Website with proper internal links for navigation
  
  

3. Gray Hat SEO:-

Gray hat SEO refers to those SEO practices that do not have well-defined guidelines. Such practices might become black hat in the future. Until these practices are well-defined, there is no harm in implementing them to grow search engine traffic. However, one must exercise them with caution. Implementing them wisely does provide good SEO results quickly. Here are a few gray hat SEO practices:

• Link submission in social bookmarking sites: Social bookmarking Websites, such as Pinterest and Reddit, are a good way to promote content. However, do not overdo this strategy. It is acceptable to submit Web links once across social bookmarking Websites.
  
  
• Use of multiple social media accounts: Creating multiple dummy social media accounts for Facebook shares, Twitter retweets, and so on is gray hat SEO. However, if the content is organically getting retweets and more social shares, it becomes white-hat SEO. Note that activities such as buying Facebook likes are not recommended and fall under gray hat SEO.
  
  
• Link generation using microsites: Microsites can be built to generate backlinks to the primary Websites. Ensure these microsites exist on their domain. Create unique content for them. It is recommended to start with one microsite first. Do not create multiple microsites all at once.
  
  
• Update old blog posts with new content: Use analytics, such as Google Analytics, to identify the posts that are performing well and bringing traffic. These posts are already bringing traffic, update them with keywords and information. Try creating 2000-plus word blog posts. Lengthy content gets more traffic from search engines.
  
  

What is a Search Engine

A search engine is a software system, such as Google, that executes web server searches based on the query given by users. It looks for information on the World Wide Web and displays the search results, which are called search engine results pages (SERPs). The search results could be linked to different files, such as images, web pages, and videos.

Working on Google Search

Google gets information from different sources, such as Web pages and public databases on the Internet. It performs crawling, indexing, and serving to generate search results.

1. Crawling:-

Google is on a constant lookout for the Web to learn about Web pages. It maintains a list of pages that it visits or crawls. It can find new pages from:

• Links from an already visited page
• A list of pages that a Website owner submits
• managed Web host
  
  

Google analyzes the content and visual layout and decides if it should appear in the search results. Note that Google displays the page only when it understands the page correctly. This means Google should be able to see all elements of the Web page. It is important to know that Google does not accept payment to crawl a Website frequently.

2. Indexing:-

The process of understanding the page is called Indexing. Here, Google analyzes all elements of the page, such as images and video files. After analysis, Google stores the information in a database called Google Index, which is stored on several computers. Google indexes a meaningful page that includes the following:

• Page headings that communicate the subject of the page
• Page titles that are meaningful and short
• Alternative text and relevant attributes, such as URL path for videos and images. This is because Google understands text better
  
  

3. Serving:-

Google serves the search answers after considering several factors, such as language and location. For example, the search for "bakery shops nearby" will display different results for Belgium and Norway. It finds the most relevant answer from its index. Ranking of the Web pages is done by the algorithm that Google uses. The Following factors affect ranking:

• Useful content
• Mobile-friendliness
• Faster page loading
• SEO guidelines