Digital Marketing

Module Search Engine Optimization

Session No. III

Version 1.0
 Digital Marketing

Material from the published or unpublished work of others which is referred to in the Class
Notes is credited to the author in question in the text. The Class Notes prepared is of 8,337
words in length. Research ethics issues have been considered and handled appropriately
within the Globsyn Business School guidelines and procedures.

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Table of Contents
1. On Page Optimization ............................................................................................ 6

1.1. Quality of Contents............................................................................................. 6

1.2. Usage of Keywords ............................................................................................ 6

1.2.1. Understanding Keywords ...................................................................................... 6

1.2.2. Keyword Placement .............................................................................................. 7

1.2.3. Keyword Popularity ............................................................................................... 7

1.2.4. Keyword Relevance .............................................................................................. 7

1.2.5. Keyword Density ................................................................................................... 7

1.2.6. Keyword Consistency ........................................................................................... 7

1.3. Use of XML Sitemaps ........................................................................................ 8

1.4. Indexing of Website ............................................................................................ 8

1.5. Need for Navigation ........................................................................................... 8

1.6. Application of Frames and Flash ........................................................................ 9

1.7. Application of Tags and Metatags ...................................................................... 9

1.7.1. The Title Tags ....................................................................................................... 9

1.7.2. Description Tags ..................................................................................................10

1.7.3. Header Tags ........................................................................................................11

1.8. Images ............................................................................................................. 11

1.9. Redirects .......................................................................................................... 12

1.9.1. 404 ......................................................................................................................12

1.9.2. 302 and 301.........................................................................................................12

1.10. Speeds for Loading of Pages ........................................................................ 12

1.11. XHTML Validation ......................................................................................... 13

1.12. Code to Text Ratio ........................................................................................ 13

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1.13. Proper Structuring of the Site ........................................................................ 14

1.14. Properly Structuring of URLs ........................................................................ 14

1.15. Anchor Text .................................................................................................. 14

1.16. Favicon Icon ................................................................................................. 15

2. Off Page optimization ........................................................................................... 15

2.1. Directory Submission ....................................................................................... 16

2.2. Submission of Articles Online........................................................................... 18

2.3. Submission of Press Releases......................................................................... 19

2.4. Blogging ........................................................................................................... 20

2.5. Designing of Infographics ................................................................................. 20

2.6. Optimization of Social Media ............................................................................ 21

3. Latent Semantic Indexing .................................................................................... 23

4. Black Hat ............................................................................................................... 23

4.1. Keyword Stuffing .............................................................................................. 24

4.1.1. Content Keyword Stuffing ....................................................................................24

4.1.2. Image Keyword Stuffing .......................................................................................24

4.1.3. Meta Tag based Keyword Stuffing .......................................................................24

4.1.4. Keyword Stuffing based on the use of Invisible Text ............................................24

4.2. Doorway Pages ................................................................................................ 24

4.3. Page Hijacking ................................................................................................. 24

4.4. Cloaking ........................................................................................................... 25

4.5. Link Farming .................................................................................................... 25

4.6. Buying Links ..................................................................................................... 25

4.7. Consequences of employing Black Hat Technique .......................................... 25

4.7.1. Sandboxing ..........................................................................................................26

4.7.2. Deflating ..............................................................................................................26

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4.7.3. Generating Zero Page Ranks ..............................................................................26

4.7.4. Restricting Access ...............................................................................................26

4.7.5. Un-listing the Websites ........................................................................................27

4.7.6. Banning ...............................................................................................................27

References ................................................................................................................... 28

Tables & Figures

Figure 1.1: Title Tags ................................................................................................................10
Figure 1.2: Description Tags .....................................................................................................10
Figure 1.3: Heading Tags ..........................................................................................................11
Figure 1.4: XHTML Validation ...................................................................................................13

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1. On Page Optimization
The term ‘On Page Optimization’ is associated with searching and thereby incorporating the
best keyword for each of the different web pages. Further, the same also is associated with
making the contents available on the webpage relevant to the keywords used by the user in
making the searches such that it contributes in keeping Google informed about the same.
Herein, ‘On-Page Optimization’ is brought about based on some specific aspects that are
underlined as follows:

1.1. Quality of Contents

In terms of quality the contents used need to be original and authentic in nature so that the
readers can rely on such for their respective information needs. Further, the vocabulary used in
developing the contents need to be such that must ideally suit the reading requirements of the
specific readers. Further, effective reading experience can be generated based on the use of
different headings and also different subheadings to help in breaking down the contents for
contributing in greater understanding. Usage of medium type Sans Serif Font helps the contents
to be read out in an effective fashion. Likewise, the existence of contrast between the words
incorporated along the web pages with the background and also the availability of quantifiable
amount of white space further enhances the readability of the content. A maximum of around
250 words are required to be put along a single page. However, the word count excludes ‘stop
words’ like ‘and’ and ‘but’. Again, relevant links are images are required to be incorporated with
the contents in an appropriate fashion such that they can be easily viewed. Finally, tabs and
sliders are also required to be used such that the same helps in effective scrolling by the
readers and other users(Kerns, 2017).

1.2. Usage of Keywords

In terms of optimization, keywords can also be used with the domain name like that of using the
business name ‘Jason Coles’ as jasoncoles.com or jasoncoles.co.uk. Use of keywords in the
domain name attracts greater number of viewers to visit the company website.

1.2.1. Understanding Keywords

Keywords are not necessarily only words. They also signify phrases or codes which are mainly
stored in a specific field and are mainly used for carrying out of sorting and searching operations
associated to different records stored in a particular database.

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1.2.2. Keyword Placement

Keyword Placement is identified as the strategic pattern of embedding keywords having
relevancy along both the visible page and also the metadata part of a particular web page. It
also reflects the different choices associated with identifying the highly appropriate locations for
the different keywords distributed within a website such that the same helps in optimization of
the site along the different search engine ranking pages and thereby contributes in driving or
attracting considerable amount of web traffic.

1.2.3. Keyword Popularity

Keyword Popularity is associated with the number of searches or queries carried out associated
to a specific keyword within a given duration. The growth of popularity concerning a specific
keyword ideally determines the level of competitiveness and also the rankings for the same in
the web market (Shenoy & Prabhu, 2016).

1.2.4. Keyword Relevance

Keyword Relevance closely determines the degree of relevance the thematic content for a
specific web page shares with the different keywords used for carrying out of search queries. It
is highlighted as a significant factor in determining the search engine rankings. The same
encompasses different types of keywords that are used along the title tags, the content part of
the pages and also in the URL of the site. Usage of irrelevant keywords for attracting
considerable amount of web traffic is identified as a Black Hat SEO practice that is highly
penalized by the different search engines.

1.2.5. Keyword Density

Keyword Density is measured in the form of a percentage and is determined based on dividing
the total number of keywords present on a specific web page by the total number of contents
therein. The existence of high keyword density contributes in enhancing the probability of the
website being sought by the diverse search engines. Again, keyword density is also used by
search engines for ranking the relevance of the web page associated to the search activities
carried out on the internet. The norms regarding keyword density require the same to vary
within 2 to 3 percent (Lee, 2016).

1.2.6. Keyword Consistency

Keyword Consistency implies the success of a search based query associated to the retrieving
of records pertaining to a specific keyword say ‘w’ for which the ‘Public Key Encryption with
Keyword Search’ or ‘PEKS’ algorithm has come out with a search enable ciphertext. In easier

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terms, Keyword Consistency is associated with the spreading out of keywords or also set of
keywords that are needed to rank along different elements of a particular web page (Chandler &
Munday, 2016).

1.3. Use of XML Sitemaps

Use of XML Sitemaps or simply Sitemaps is highly recommended in that it helps the search
engines locate and navigate to different pages on the site which otherwise had not been a
possibility. In that, sitemaps are defined as codes that are essentially developed for the search
engines to help them know exactly what is present along the websites. Use of Sitemaps are
considered as a necessity where the website is identified to be new or where the contents are
archived and also the different web pages are not linked to each other. For dynamic content like
news, videos, games and other information present along the website it is also recommended to
have different sitemaps. In case, the website has also a mobile version it is increasingly
recommended to have a sitemap for the mobile format also (Khliupko, 2016).

1.4. Indexing of Website

The website needs to be indexed based on the application of webmaster tools for the respective
search engines like Bing and Google. Indexing of site based on the submission of sitemaps
enable web-bots like spiders to crawl down the site and thereby capture essential information
that are updated in the databases.

1.5. Need for Navigation

Only having links that attract and direct visitors to the web pages is not considered enough if the
visitors to the site are not supported in effectively navigating around. Proper navigation is made
possible based on the incorporation of the following features:

 Linking of the logo that is placed along the header with the home page
 The primary navigation is required to be kept near the topmost portion of the web page
or the site and also it is needed to be simple enough for enabling effective
understanding.
 Existence of large numbers of navigations like different menus and also links on one
specific page happens to affect the site quality.
 The navigations are required to maintain a certain level of depth for around two to three
levels.
 For a bigger site, secondary menu options are also needed to be present for the different
inner pages.

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 Incorporation of breadcrumb trails along the top portion of the web pages like:
Pizza > Veg or Non-Veg Pizza > Small, Medium, Large > Premium or Normal with
presence of hyperlinks to navigate along to the different pages are considered to be
essential.
 The navigations are required to be linked either with the footer or with the sidebar.
 Linking the different pages based on the use of keyword enriched text contributes in
better understanding of the contents rendered.
 Sitemap is considered a must to be included along the different websites.
 Likewise, a search box is also required to be incorporated either along the top right
corner of the website or along the top portion of the sidebar (Pérez-Montoro & Codina,
2016).
1.6. Application of Frames and Flash
 Application of Frames is considered suitable where large numbers of parts or information
segments are all incorporated along a single web page. However, the use of frames is
considered unworthy for that of an SEO site.
 Again, the websites that are built based on the use of Flash tend to be avoided by the
search engines in that the latter are essentially text based in nature. For activities like
crawling and indexing the sites need to be text based that acts as a mandatory
requirement. Google as a search engine is enabled to crawl through the textual part of
the contents and also in indexing the web contents in flash files which thereby requires
the use of text equivalents with flash (Ryan & Jones, 2012).
1.7. Application of Tags and Metatags
Metadata is identified as the information available for each of the different data sets. Metatags
or also Meta tags as they are commonly known as contribute in providing information to the
users and visitors about the HTML Code of the different sites. Metatags are essentially found
between the opening and the closing head tags available in the HTML code of the website. The
meta tags ideally contribute in providing information about the web page and also its different
contents to the developers and also to the search engines. Crawlers are essentially sent by the
different search engines to identify and thereby read the different meta tags. The meta tags are
categorized into different types as follows:

1.7.1. The Title Tags

The Title Tags earn significance in that the same are available along the search results and the
same can be clicked upon by the users. Again, title tags are also available along the title bar

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and at the top portion of the browser window or tabs. The Title tag is built based on the use of
70 characters.
Figure 1.1: Title Tags

(Against The Clock, 2008)

1.7.2. Description Tags

In the absence of a description tag the search engines tend to generate a summary of the
contents available along the web page such that it fails to attract the users or visitors to click
along the different sections of the web page. The Description Tags are essentially built based
on the use of 150 characters. The Description Tags are essentially reflected along the SERP in
the form of some sentences below the title and the URL part such that it helps the visitors gain
firsthand information about the web page.

Figure 1.2: Description Tags

(Against The Clock, 2008).

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1.7.3. Header Tags

The Header Tags or H Tags are essentially found to be used along the different web pages. H1
or the main header is held to bear needed significance such that it tends to include the
keywords used in the pages. The software meant for web building like the word processor
essentially help in highlighting and selecting the words and thereby in tagging the same based
on clicking on ‘Heading 1’. Likewise, other headers like h2 and h3 or ‘Heading 2’ and ‘Heading
3’ respectively are available for the development of contents along the different sub-sections.
The same is carried out for a better understanding of the reader. However, for SEO purposes it
is required to shift along different web pages rather than to drill down along a specific page
(Against The Clock, 2008).

Figure 1.3: Heading Tags

(Against The Clock, 2008)

1.8. Images
Images are considered to be quite helpful and significant in that they contribute in attracting
viewers and also in enhancing their interest in reading along the web pages. Moreover, the use
of images ideally helps in providing quality illustrations for the respective points and sections
associated to the site. Further, the use of images also helps the websites to appear along the
SERPs when search is made by users for the concerned images. Again, the use of images also
contributes in the movement of the search engine spiders along the web pages in an effective
fashion. The use of pictures or other audio-visual graphics on the website gives rise to an
opportunity of incorporating an Alt Tag and also a caption. The use of captions and Alt Tags
drive user engagement and also help in engaging the search engines also. Alt Text is viewed as
and when the users tend to hover the mouse over the image and thereby help in providing
firsthand information about the image to the users (Jackson, 2016).

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1.9. Redirects
1.9.1. 404
In cases where clicking on a link provided for a respective website fails to show a web page in
that the ‘page no longer exists’ or also where the link appears to be broken the ‘Page Not
Found’ or 404 message is flagged on the screen. The 404 message is highlighted when the web
page has been shifted to a totally new URL whereas the old link is failed to have been
redirected to a new page. The flagging of the 404 message itself encourages the visitors to click
away from the page to a new page. Further, the flagging of the 404 message also shows the
inability of the search engines in effectively identifying the web pages for the site.

1.9.2. 302 and 301

302 Redirect
The 302 Redirect is identified as a temporary redirect that is mainly used in cases of specific
promotions. Application of 302 for all types of scenarios leads to failure in cases of meeting the
objectives of SEO optimization for the search engines tend to identify them as impermanent in
nature. The same leads to losing of any type of available links and even in some cases leads to
banning of the site.

301 Redirect
301 Redirect on the contrary to 302 help in highlighting the permanency of the redirect to the
different search engines. It thereby encourages the updating activity concerning the index and
also regarding the various inbound and other internal links (Heinze, et al., 2016).

1.10. Speeds for Loading of Pages

The web pages that tend to slowly get loaded are held to enhance the level of operating costs
for the company while also affect the level and duration of user engagement in that visitors tend
to spend less time on such. A set of diverse algorithms are now undertaken by Google for
helping in reducing the problems associated with the slow loading of the web pages. The same
are rendered as follows:

● Before focusing on uploading an image on the site the same is required to be effectively
cropped and resized to fit in.
● Switching to a batter web host is needed to be taken into consideration in that the cheap
and also the shared ones tend to perform very slowly.
● Further, the web pages need to be effectively compressed.
● Practice of getting hold of dynamic sites must be pursued.

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● The application of Flash must be minimized.

● The development of the codes is needed to be carried out in a very efficient fashion with
reduction of use of white space.
● The different web forms are needed to be spam proofed for reduction of delay or
interruption (Davis, 2006).

1.11. XHTML Validation

The XHTML Validation is concerned with validating the HTML or XHTML Version being used in
terms of perusing the DOCTYPE. It also tends to check whether the code used in the document
tends to be valid for the current version. In case, if the validation carried out identifies the
presence of an error in the HTML Coding a message is reflected as, ‘’Errors found while
checking this document as XHTML 1.0 Transitional’’. The message is flagged in red along the
header bar (Shelly & Woods, 2010).

Figure 1.4: XHTML Validation

(Duckett, 2004)

1.12. Code to Text Ratio

The Code to Text Ratio is considered as a significant tool in regards to SEO writing in that it
helps in determining the exact ratio between the codes and the textual contents associated to a
particular web page. It focuses on understanding the percentage or the degree of actual content
on a particular web page. The tool performs in terms of extracting the different texts from the
several paragraphs used in the document and also the anchor text that is retrieved from the

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HTML Code. The extracting of information from the above sources ideally helps in determining
the content ratio for the same. The ratio of code to text in SEO earns needed relevancy in that
the same is used by the different search engines for evaluating the relevance of the web page.
Thus, in cases where the code to text ratio reveals a higher result the same signifies a higher
page ranking for the website along the SERP page. Application of the Code to Text ratio while
formulating the contents thus helps the company earn needed competitive advantage over other
competitor firms (Segal, 2013).

1.13. Proper Structuring of the Site

A proper site structure is determined in terms of the effectiveness of the design incorporated in
the site along with the easiness of it being navigated by the users. Moreover, a well-structured
site is identified as such that is simple in looks and understanding and works based on a rational
basis. Further, the effectiveness of the site structure also determines the manner in which the
files are stored and also organized along the main server. Existence of an effective site
structure contributes in the generation of potential benefits like enhancing on the security and
also the administration parameters concerning the site and also help in generating scalability,
portability and also in easing the manner in which modifications are required to be carried out
from time to time (Stanek, 2016).

1.14. Properly Structuring of URLs

Structuring of the URLs in an effective fashion is considered as a critical factor that contributes
in determining and also in developing a plan of attack associated with the undertaking search-
engine-optimization. Search engines and also their users tend to appreciate descriptive and
static-looking URLs. The existence of the above type or category of URLs helps them to be
easily explored by the search engines spiders and also to be effectively understood by the
users. Search engines also focus on taking account of the keywords and also the phrases
provided in the URLs and thereby tend to employ the same for deciding on the web page
rankings. The existence of an effective URL structure contributes in rendering an effective
foundation for the building up of further pages with also retaining an effective organizational
structure. The proper designing of the URLs are needed to be taken care at the very outset in
that the changing of the same tends to become a challenging task (Jones, 2008).

1.15. Anchor Text

Anchor Text is identified as the visible wording style used regarding a hyperlink. Clicking on a
link tends to direct the users to specific web pages encompassing long URLs. Herein, the site

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owner in a bid to keeping the same simple focuses on writing an anchor text as an appendix to
the same. Search engines like Google focuses on monitoring the different anchor texts
associated to a specific website along the internet and thereby contribute in building an effective
profile of the different anchor texts for the specific website. In case, where the website is about
‘fluffy kittens’ the existence of an anchor text like ‘attack dogs’ would tend to confuse Google for
which it would amount to low page rankings. On the contrary, if around 74 percent of the
inbound links are associated with the keyword, ‘fluffy kittens’ Google would tend to penalize the
site for issues of over-optimization. Thus, deciding on a specific ratio or proportion concerning
the anchor text serves as an effective strategy for achieving higher page rankings on Google
(Sanusi, 2018).

1.16. Favicon Icon

Favicon is a term generated in terms of joining two different words like ‘favourite’ and ‘icon’. The
term specifically refers to a specific icon that is associated with the name of a website available
along the list of ‘favourites’ and ‘bookmarks’ in addition to the name of the website. The
generation of the Favicon is carried out in terms of downloading from the site that was
previously bookmarked. The Favicon icon in addition to being reflected along the given lists is
also highlighted along address bar’s left end. Further, the Favicon is essentially generated as an
image in an icon format. Icon format is observed to support a limited range of colours and is
mostly restricted to a size of 16x16 or at the most 32x32 size pixels. Again, in that the Favicon
icon is employed as an effective representation of the total website the file named as favicon.ico
is essentially stored along the root folder of the website (Xie, 2016).

2. Off Page optimization

Activities concerning Off Page Optimization are essentially undertaken with a focus of
increasing the popularity of the website. The popularity factor concerning the website is
essentially determined in terms of the number of links and also other websites that are linked to
the stated website or also with the URL of the site. Again, Off Page Optimization is also
concerned with the different activities carried out over the internet for enhancing the SERP
(Search Engine Result Placements) concerning the site. In that, Off Page Optimization as one
of the most effective SEO based strategies that can be undertaken by a website for achieving
higher page rankings. Development of quality links for the website ideally contributes in
enhancing the page rankings for the same on the search engine pages. Adding of quality links
to different websites indicate the inclusion of links of those websites that tend to bear higher

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page rankings in Google compared to the initial site. Further, the websites to be linked also
need to bear the same types of contents like that of the original site. Similarly, the existence of
relevant meta tags and also the links of additional quality sites further signify the same as
quality links (Fleischner, 2014).

2.1. Directory Submission

Directory Submission is identified as an effective process or method for submission of blogs and
websites into different web directories. The same also involves different steps for adding of
website URL with also the site details into different appropriate categories. Further, Directory
Submission is associated with the enhancement of website indexing in terms of gaining
backlinks from different types of web directories. Generation of quality backlinks contributes in
improving the ranking of keywords along different search engines while also helps in attracting
larger amount of web traffic and also in gaining higher page ranks. Website Directories act as
telephone directories in terms of not only listing large numbers of website links but also in
categorizing them under different heads. Directory Submission thus encompasses a large
number of links to different websites.

Two different types of website directories are available over the internet which are identified as
human-edited and the other as automated. The website directories that are human edited in
nature focus on carrying out a review on a personalized basis for which their review tends to be
of high quality based and thereby command higher page rankings on Google. DMOZ.com is
identified to gain significant popularity in terms of acting as a human edited website directory
(Sfetcu, 2014).

Further, the human-edited website directories are mainly operated by a group of editors that
contribute both in creating and operating the directories and also focus on listing of website links
associated to the norms or business policies pertaining to the specific directory. These
directories often become the target point of SEOs in that the links generated of reputable and
authentic sources ideally contribute in generating higher page rankings. Some of the human
created and edited directories are also observed to discourage the search engines from
providing ratings to the websites listed based on the use of different tools like redirects, no
follow attributes and also other types of techniques. The human-edited directories like that of
ODP and also the Word Wide Web Virtual Library are observed to be edited by a group of
different volunteers that account to be experts in diverse categories. The human-edited
directories though considered to be highly authentic in nature become the subject of critique on
account of need of greater time for generation of approvals, rigidity in the existence of

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organizational structures and also owing to the existence of disputes among the existing
volunteers responsible for carrying out the editing functions (Sfetcu, 2014).

To counter the above given criticisms the human-edited website directories focused on the
effective adoption of the wiki technology that encourage broader participation of different
communities in editing the different website directories. Likewise, the paid for inclusion model is
also incorporated by the website directories that enables timely inclusion of the different
submissions and also the generation of limited number of listings owing to the paid model.
Additional listing options are also presented for further enhancing the listings that includes
features listings and also other additional links to internal pages of the listed websites. The
above listed options tend to bear an additional fee. However, they help in providing effective
visibility to the different websites and other internal pages.

Nowadays, it is a widely accepted strategy of SEO technique used by companies for submission
of websites to different web directories in that the same would help the companies in getting
effective backlinks associated to the submitted site. The gaining of high quality backlinks
contributes in helping the site in earning higher page ranks in search engines like Google. The
manual website directory for submission of website links is accounted to be a tedious and time
consuming process in nature such that the same is generally outsourced by the respective
webmasters (Sharma, 2015).

Regarding automated directories, it is observed that the same tends to be spread in dozens
over the internet. However, in terms of choosing the automated directory it is required to review
the same in terms of quality of reviews, having a strong and established page ranking on
Google, strong ranking in Alexa and also the presence of effective categories.

Both the human edited and also the automated website directories are observed to work on the
aspect of link linkage. The websites that are interested in getting listed to the respective
directories essentially focus on generating a link to the website directory from the concerned
website. In the initial stage it is thereby required to check and evaluate the PR value of the web
page where the listing is to be done. The acid test to be conducted here before submission of
the link of the website is to evaluate whether the Google PR of the website where the listing is
focused on being carried out tends to be either greater than or equal to the PR rankings of the
links page.

The website categories do not act as search engines and thereby does not display the list of
websites based on keywords present or used. The categorization and the sub categorization of

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the different websites are not done based on taking into account only a single page but rather
the websites as a whole. The websites are thereby observed to be included into two or like
categories. RSS Directories also operate as the same as Website Directories. However, unlike
website directories the RSS Directories encompass large numbers of RSS feeds and thereby do
not provide effective links to other websites (Sharma, 2015).

Some of the website directories are observed to act in a general fashion and thereby focus on
listing of websites based on diverse sets of categories and also based on regional and language
associated parameters. Again, niche categories of directories also function that essentially focus
on listing the websites associated to specific language sets and niche sectors. Yahoo Directory
and also the Open Directory Project or ODP are identified as popular web directories of general
fashion. ODP is highly popular in that it helps in carrying out large scale categorization and also
owing to extensive number of listings of different websites. Further, ODP being free to use is
widely availed by other directories and search engines for listing of websites.

Different types of listings are reflected along the directories where the variety of listings emerge
owing to the price rendered by the website owners for listing of the different websites. The same
is indicated as follows:

● In cases of Free Submission, no amount is charged by the directories for reviewing of

the websites.
● In cases of Reciprocal Link, the website submitted is needed to get linked to the
directory for being effectively listed on the same
● In cases of Paid Submissions fees are charged for effectively reviewing the links
submitted on the website directory.
● In cases of ‘No Follow’ that is mainly associated with the links the search engines are
encouraged to refrain from following the link.
● In cases of Featured Link, the link submitted is rendered a premium position in the
related category where the submission is carried out.
● In cases of Featured Homepage, the link of the website is essentially submitted on the
homepage of the website directory.
● Finally in ‘Bid for Position’ the different websites are ordered in terms of the different bids
(Sfetcu, 2014).
2.2. Submission of Articles Online
It is observed that a current practice associated to the writing of articles and thereby submitting
the same to different websites with also generating backlinks from the same and including the

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same on the original site acts as an effective tool for attracting of considerable amount of web
traffic. Herein, Ezine acts as a popular site for submission of articles. The visibility of the
websites and also an effective way for attracting the right amount and category of website traffic
to visit the different websites can be rightly pursued through the submission of articles in Ezine.
The article submission website is identified to have a high PR rate that mainly caters to the
listing of online articles. The website encourages free submission and publication of articles on
their platform. The practice that needs to be followed is to effectively reference the URLs of the
website along the different Ezine articles that are written for the websites it would help in
attracting and building web traffic for the same based on the number of readers of the articles
on the Ezine platform. It would help in enhancing the link popularity for the specific website that
would thereby contribute in attracting considerable amount of web traffic and thereby help in
actively promoting the same. The articles submitted over Ezine are required to contain effective
information that earns potential relation to the website. However, copying of content that is
available on the website on the Ezine based articles needs to be rightly restrained. The article
writers on Ezine are required to focus on the generation of unique content associated with the
website while also focus on summarizing the essential features of the website such that the
same contributes in luring the attention of the readers to the site.

The Ezine article account can be effectively used based on the development of a free article
submission account where articles can be submitted in a free manner for subsequent
publication. Likewise, the Ezine platform can also be used for referencing large numbers of
articles associated to diverse categories. It is observed that the different web page articles that
are posted on the Ezine platform tend to attract high amount of PR. The same pursued with
linking of URLs on the Ezine website actively help in attracting the right category and amount of
web traffic to the concerned website (Hayman, 2007).

2.3. Submission of Press Releases

Press Releases are accounted to be effective methods that contribute in the building up of
backlinks and thereby in distributing the same along different elements like different new sites,
news grabbers and also a host of different search engines. Press Releases effectively
encompass updates from different websites and also news services that are focused on being
included in the website. The press releases tend to include effective information about the
website that is essentially linked to updated contents provided on the site. An effective press
release is not only required to be documented but also submitted in a highly popular website
concerned with press release.

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Submission of documents in addition to free press release websites also need to be carried out
based on the use of paid release websites such that the same helps in uploading of the
documents along both high-traffic based websites and also along the news platform of different
search engines like Yahoo, Bing and Google. Moreover, the paid press release websites also
contribute on distributing the press releases among considerable number of websites and also
amongst their followers. In the United States, the cost incurred for submitting paid press
releases amount to around $400 or even more.

Press Release distributors like PRWeb and also PRNewswire contribute in effectively
distribution of contents across the press (Elmansy, 2013).

2.4. Blogging
Blogging is considered to be another strategy that requires the SEO marketers to create a blog
and thereby link back the elements of the blog to the original website based on the application
of hyperlinks. The application of hyperlinks on the blog helps the readers to directly link back to
the site on clicking the provided links. In digital marketing the website that has a number of links
to associated websites gains a higher rank along the search pages than the website having
lesser or no links attached to it. However, providing backlinks on blog for linking back to the site
or sites is considered a time consuming and costly affair in cases a link broker is put to use or
also in cases of involvement of a pay-per-post network. Requesting of reciprocal links from
other websites is also identified to be time consuming in nature (O'Dell, 2013). The process of
getting reciprocal links becomes time consuming in nature in that the same requires the use of
emails for linking to other external websites and thereby requesting them to enter into a barter
system where they would desire to get linked with the original website. Again, in cases where
the blog is identified to be a new one then back link attached to the same would tend to gain
lesser weightage than that provided on known or popular blogs. Search engines like Google do
not render greater importance to links available on blogs and forums as they are used for
earning of higher page ranks based on linking the same to other websites. In such cases the
digital marketer can focus on writing guest posts on other known or popular blogs and thereby
providing backlinks to it such that the same can be associated to the original website. Herein,
the application of anchor text counts greater importance where the link based association is
focused on being carried out with popular blogs (O'Dell, 2013).

2.5. Designing of Infographics

Content marketing based on the application of Infographics is viewed as an effective method of
link building that incorporates graphical information identified as an infographic which also

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serves as an asset to develop and build links of different mentions and also contributes in
building links for the websites. Infographics can be effectively used for promoting a specific
brand and also to focus on the generation of effective backlinks.

2.6. Optimization of Social Media

Social Media Optimization or SMO is identified as an effective process of digital marketing that
focuses on the incorporation of different social media platforms for pulling in website traffic,
creating buzz for marketing and promotional activities and also in providing link backs to
different websites. Different types of social media websites like that of StumbleUpon and
Pinterest that acts as social media discovery sites and similarly other online forums serving
industries and again other online communities like SEOmoz and again the WebmasterWorld;
websites like YouTube through which video sharing is carried out; social media platforms like
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and also Google+ actively contribute in meeting the objectives of
the social media optimization plans for SEO marketing. In that, SMO has earned needed power
to have become an indispensable resource in SEO marketing in that the same helps in building
considerable number of links for the different websites. Incorporation of SMO in SEO marketing
ideally helps in improving the level of search engine rankings. The search engines like Google
and Bing are also identified in applying different social media indicators for enhancing the
rankings on the search pages. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and
Pinterest are being extensively employed by the business institutions for not managing and also
enhancing the reputation of the firms but also developing brand recognition, generation of
marketing buzz and also in promoting the products and services marketed by the firms
(Khosrow-Pour, 2018).

Facebook accounts or pages that are created by the companies ideally help in enhancing the
numbers of followers for the company brand and the company website, generate press releases
and also helps in updating of videos, blogs and RSS updates. Further, Facebook as a social
media platform also encourages the posting of different types of posts like texts, pictures and
audio-visual content that matches the interest of the target audience. Posting of live feeds and
videos along with replying to the comments made by the users along the different posts all
contribute in reflecting the consumer responsive nature of the firm and thus attracts greater
consumer attention.

StumbleUpon is also identified as an effective SMO tool that acts as a peer and social
networking technology platform that tends to include a toolbar which is installed in the web
browser. The toolbar of StumbleUpon ideally contributes to not only discover and thereby rate

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the web pages, videos, news based articles and photos that are submitted for generating
marketing buzz, developing of back link and also in attracting online traffic to the website
(Gunelius, 2011).

Twitter acts as another social media platform that encourages the development of micro blogs
or Tweets that are essentially build based on the use of 140 characters that mainly belong to the
category of textual messages that are typed by users on the social networking platform. Twitter
acts as an effective platform that contributes in building a large group of followers. Twitter also
serves as an effective messaging service where tweets can be generated by the company to its
followers in terms of informing them or creating alerts about the availability of products and
services. Business institutions focusing on digital marketing can also focus on employing the
Twitter search platform based on incorporating effective keywords about the product or service.
The same would help in considerable marketing for the product or service brand to a larger set
of audiences along the online sphere. The evaluation of the search results helps the digital
marketers to track the different users that have made use of the respective keywords for
searching for the market offerings.

Likewise, LinkedIn can also be used by the companies for effectively networking with business
professionals in the related field which in turn ideally contributes in forming a list of specific
contacts. In terms of building a large database of contacts it thus becomes easy for interacting
with the people and thereby contributing in ideally promoting the business and market offerings.
Further, the social networking platform also contributes in sharing needed information about
products and services and other offers that the business focuses on updating from time to time.

YouTube acts as an effective video sharing platform that encourages tagging based on the use
of keywords which in turn on matching with the keywords used by the visitors on search
networking platforms ideally redirects them to the site. Herein, different live videos of customer
testimonials associated to their views on usage of products and services and other market and
promotional offerings can be easily submitted for views by a large audience. Generation of
above type of videos ideally helps in building a sense of trust and reliability on the website and
thereby attracts considerable attention by the viewers (Jones, 2008).

The firms can also focus on using the Pinterest platform based on the generation of pinboards
from capturing different images from its own website and thereby submitting the same
contributes in attracting considerable amount of web traffic while tagging the pictures with

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keywords ideally helps in enhancing the SEO page ratings for such. Thus, websites that are
colourful and attractive in nature can gain the best based on employing Pinterest.

Finally, posting on forums also acts as an effective tool for pursuing digital marketing initiatives.
WebmasterWorld is identified as an effective forum community that contributes in hosting
considerable number of discussions carried out by users on a specific topic encompassing
SEO, social media activities and also affiliates marketing initiatives. It can thereby attract
considerable number of users especially members to post their views about the website and
also about the marketing offerings (Jones, 2008).

3. Latent Semantic Indexing

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) also understood as Latent Semantic Analysis is identified as a
mathematical method that was formulated during the 1980s to contribute in enhancing the
accuracy of retrieving needed information from online sources. An effective technique known as
‘Singular Value Decomposition’ is employed by LSI for scanning of unstructured data sets within
different documents and thereby in identifying the relationships between the different concepts
used in such (Landauer, 2007).

4. Black Hat
Black Hat is a term used to signify spamming activities associated to SEO. Spamming activities
related to SEO reflects on the existence of large number of irrelevant results generated on the
search engine pages having very less or almost no such relevance with the research needs of
the users. In that, Black Hat is also identified as aggressive nature of SEO strategies and
likewise different techniques and tactics that are undertaken by the digital marketers by
restricting the focus mainly on the different search engines rather than aiming to understand the
needs of the target audiences. Different types of Black Hat SEO based techniques are observed
to be used by digital marketers like that of keyword stuffing, invisible website text, link farms and
likewise doorway pages. Further, the Black Hat SEO strategy and techniques are mainly used
by such firms that focus on earning faster returns and thereby restrain from focusing on
generating long-term investments. However, in that the Black Hat technique for SEO marketing
is identified as a spamming activity it thus results the banning of the URL from different search
engines. The practice associated to Black Hat SEO being unethical in nature is thereby
highlighted as spamdexing in nature (Hawkins, 2019).

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4.1. Keyword Stuffing

The activities associated with keyword stuffing are essentially categorized into four different
types as associated with contents, images, meta tags and finally with invisible text.

4.1.1. Content Keyword Stuffing

Regards to contents, the existence of a keyword density of around 2 to 5 percent makes the
content to be flagged as spam. Keyword stuffing related to contents is carried out purposefully
by the digital marketer that focuses mainly on generating higher page ranks in the search
engines and on concentrating on specific keywords.

4.1.2. Image Keyword Stuffing

Regarding stuffing of keywords associated with the images used search engines like Google
essentially focus on evaluating the number of ‘Alt Tags’ that are used against the images based
on a specific content. The alt tag can be observed by browsing over the image.

4.1.3. Meta Tag based Keyword Stuffing

Keyword stuffing on a meta tag basis is associated with the use of large number of keywords for
developing the title of the document. The application of large numbers of keywords along the
headings make the document looks unprofessional in the eyes of the reader.

4.1.4. Keyword Stuffing based on the use of Invisible Text

Keyword Stuffing based on the application of invisible texts can be carried out in terms of listing
down of large numbers of keywords using white colour and generating them over a white
background. The above technique though tends to make the keywords invisible in nature yet
actively contributes in attracting search engine spiders to carry out their crawling down the site
(Vincent, 2015).

4.2. Doorway Pages

Doorway pages are considered as different types of small web pages that essentially contain a
small amount of different contents and also essential links that tend to provide links to effective
web pages. The above technique by its very nature was considered to be a white hat based
SEO technique before the same became the subject of use by webmasters for misleading the
search engine spiders.

4.3. Page Hijacking

Page Hijacking is considered as a very harmful Black Hat technique in that it aims at hijacking of
personal and private information posted by users on different websites. Herein, the webmaster

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focuses on copying an effective website which in turn redirects the users to a large number of
malicious websites. It can also tend to happen that even the page that is hijacked is also
malicious in nature. Page Hijacking activities result in the generation of harms like users losing
control over confidential information associated with their credit and debit cards, passwords and
even other information related to social security (Entrepreneur Press, 2009).

4.4. Cloaking
Cloaking is identified as another Black Hat SEO activity that follows the same model as
Spamdexing. In that, the content that is offered to search engine crawlers tend to differ to that
presented to users. The same is undertaken in a deceitful fashion by the firms for achieving
higher page rankings in the search engine pages. The nature of the contents delivered tends to
vary along different platforms owing to changes in IP Addresses and also in the HTTP Headers.
Cloaking is identified as a manipulative technique that endeavours in tricking the search engines
to believe that the contents rendered for the crawlers ideally match to that of the users.

4.5. Link Farming

Link Farming as a Black Hat SEO technique wherein different sites focus on exchanging
reciprocal links for boosting their search engine rankings. The above activity is understood as
fraudulent in nature in that the same is carried out based on cheating the different search
engines. Link Farming as an activity is different from Link Building that serves as an organic
technique for boosting of page rankings. SEO Consultants tend to use link farming as an
effective strategy in that they find it quite easy in registering a site, developing a design template
and thereby adding links to it. Search engine, Google totally restricts the behaviour of
interlinking large number of sites with the website and thereby displaying the links on the
website for earning higher page ranks. In case such behaviour is pursued Google takes action
in not allowing the website to earn the trust rank while also in deindexing it from its platform
(Bailyn, 2013).

4.6. Buying Links

Buying links is identified to be a Black Hat technique when the same is carried out in an
aggressive fashion which in turn leads to the event of spamming. In cases where the links are
semantically related the same are identified to be ethical in nature (Bailyn, 2013).

4.7. Consequences of employing Black Hat Technique

A list of different penalties can be imposed owing to the use of ‘Black Hat’ technique in SEO.
The same are listed as follows:

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4.7.1. Sandboxing
The Sandbox in Google is identified as an effective area that reflects the listing of new websites.
The main objective of Sandbox is to help in reducing the chances of spam from the emergence
of newly listed websites that tend to appear on top of the search pages for the associated
keywords. An effective PageRank tends to be imposed on to the site that tends to stay over an
effective period which also reflects its maturity. However, the sites to continually stay in the
Sandbox needs to pass the spam filters of Google or otherwise they would be filtered out of the
list. Though the above type of penalty tends to bear credibility yet its efficacy still needs to be
proved regards to identifying credible and authentic websites.

The ‘Sandbox Effect ‘as it is popularly known as accounts for two main factors like:

 Level of Competitiveness: The degree of competitiveness is measured in terms of

evaluating the competitive nature of the different types of keywords used in the content.
The more competitive are the keywords used in the document more is the amount of
filtering carried out.
 Level of Recency: This factor tends to measure the recency at which the sites are or
were indexed by Google. The more recent the website is the more is the amount of
filtering carried out over it.
4.7.2. Deflating
Deflating as a consequence arises in cases where the website is potentially filled up with
irrelevant links and also keywords that fail to bear effective relation to the contents it tends to
deflate or devalue the page ranks of the website. The above practice leads to deflating of the
page rank in that the website starts countering problems concerning factors like spam and
pharming.

4.7.3. Generating Zero Page Ranks

The websites that focus on largely spamming the system are identified by Google to which they
are offered zero page ranks. Offering of zero page ranks makes the website percolate down the
search pages and thereby become identified as an untrustworthy website that suffers from lack
of needed quality (David, 2015).

4.7.4. Restricting Access

In that the website is found to contain malicious content and also worms or even observed to
have been hacked by other websites the same affects the credibility of the websites and thereby
leads to deindexing the website and also restrict the access of the visitors to the same based on

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search results. A warning would also be issued by Google stating that the site is dangerous to
visit.

4.7.5. Un-listing the Websites

In case of serious offenders like websites hosting and sharing of malicious contents Google
focuses on totally un-listing the website from its index in that it counters the chances of visitors
to visit the site.

4.7.6. Banning
Banning of websites is carried out in case where the website continually violates the rules
provided by Google. The banning of websites leads to largely reducing the flow of traffic to the
website and thereby tends to literally remove the same from the virtual map (Dawson, 2009).

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Landauer, T. K., 2007. Handbook of Latent Semantic Analysis. United States : Lawrence
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