Reusable Energy: Have WhiteHats gone the way of the Unicorn?

Why is BlackHat still the Black Sheep of the SEO family?

Hi levi123,

There’s a lot of chatter on what constitutes BlackHat these days but one thing’s for certain, building a site and hoping Google grants you position seven on some long-tail term is pretty much the official definition of WhiteHat.

And many SEO conferences pretend to agree with this. They'll offer hundreds of sessions which explain Google and Bing’s Guidelines in a hundred different ways. But they'll ignore this unspoken rule: almost everyone uses BlackHat. Sadly, no-one’ll admit and it's not something you can talk about over pricey conference networking lunches.

Bringing up the SEO that dare not speak its name in the company of WhiteHats can be a little inhibiting. It’s not long before words like unsavory and illicit start getting thrown around. After all, you’re a disreputable hacker who’s out to ruin the SERP with your spammy content and illegal activity, right? It's enough to make you wonder if they even know what BlackHat means. Maybe they think they’re WhiteHat simply because they don’t do keyword stuffing, hacking or ddos attacks over breakfast.

Let’s face it, if you’ve been to one of these conferences, you’ll find it difficult to say “Content Is King” without Gagging a little.

UG Club

Luckily at UnGagged, we're a little more pragmatic - we like to talk about BlackHat. A lot. UnGagged speakers don't fit the typical speaker mold either – nothing’s off limits. Instead of rehashing the same old Google Guidelines, our experts take it a step further by delving into the heart of the industry to provide off-the-record advice and experience.

But even that’s not squeaky clean enough for the "Content is K..." I can’t even say it... crowd. We’re about what works, and what doesn’t.

Where do you usually sit on this whole BlackHat/WhiteHat scale?

We want more BlackHat content at UnGagged, so let us know if you’re out and proud, or you try to keep it euphemistic and away from the ears of delicate SEOs.

Check our this BHW thread and get your 2 cents in.

And if you’re looking to debate this IRL, there’s no better place and time than UnGagged Las Vegas this November. We’re so keen to have you represented there that we’re offering all BHW members a 15% discount.