This is an important paradox of search engine optimization: as an optimizer you must try to improve your rankings in a number of ways, without coming under scrutiny from search engines or crossing the line into manipulation or artificial boosting. Such underhanded techniques are collectively known as Black Hat SEO.

Search engines are constantly updating their algorithms to avoid being gamed, and aggressive attempts to boost rankings can be harshly penalized by much lower rankings, or even a complete removal from the engine’s database.

In fact, beyond a basic improvement of site structure to facilitate crawling and indexing, search engines would perhaps like nothing better than to have no op‐timization at all, since it would enable them to find websites that are ‘naturally’ relevant, popular and thus reliable.

However, optimization is an undeniable and natural consequence of the intense competition for web traffic, and is now a fact of reality for search engines and a necessity for site owners. Ethical, user‐driven optimization can be good for eve‐ryone involved: you, the searcher and the engine.

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Second: Make it usable. Make it as easy as possible for spiders to visit, crawl and index your website. Create a clean site with clear structure and error‐free code, with a well defined sitemap and a strong linking scheme. Highlight relevant text; choose page titles and define Meta tags carefully to give the search engine a clear idea of what each page is about.

Third: Choose the right keywords. It is absolutely imperative to perform key‐word research on the subject of your web site and of each individual page, so that you can accurately align what you are offering with what users are looking for. Simply put, if you pick the wrong keywords, you will target the wrong traffic.

Fourth: Make it popular. Spread the word about your website and generate publicity for it by providing good content and advertising. Create content and tools that will get people talking about you, and use press releases and online and offline advertising to reach out to them.

Fifth: Don’t spam. Don’t violate the first principle of optimization. Write for people, not search engines. Don’t generate fake publicity by creating bogus web‐sites for backlinks, presenting different pages to spiders and users, or using other unscrupulous methods to attract traffic. Not only will you annoy and alienate your visitors, but you will always be at risk of being caught and penalized.

These are principles of White Hat SEO. Note that white hat SEO increases your visibility in search engines, while black hat SEO, which uses the same overall principle (thinking like a spider) to try to outwit search engines in unethical ways, are open to penalty by search engines and have a short life since they provide no real value to users.

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