White Hat vs. Black Hat Seo Case Study

28 replies
  • SEO
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Hello everyone and welcome to my case study

This case study is more for me then for everyone else, though it will give out TONS of free information on both white hat and black hat seo.Up front i will be creating private networks but they will not be implemented until after the three month period is over. They are more for targeting the roots of some of the keywords.

Site 1 Targeting 3 key terms Black hat style 0 backlinking done age 4
Keyword 1 - current rank 42
Keyword 2 - current rank 36
Keyword 3 - Not in top 500

Site 2 Targeting 3 key terms White hat style 0 backlinking age 3.5 years
Keyword 1 - current rank 13
Keyword 2 - current rank 46
Keyword 3 - Not in top 500

Both website are targeting about the same level of comp.
Each keyword gets on average 100 searchs a day

Comp on keyword 1, both have mostly pr 0 sniper sites on first page with under 100 links to them... pr 0 links

Comp on keyword 2, same as one though number 1 spots on both have about 200 links, black hat one has 1 pr 1 link that is missing

Comp on keyword 3 average pr 0 though number 1 pr 2 for both. Under 300 links none over pr 1 for both sites

Sites are in two completely different niche's but comp on first page is about the same.

This case study is not favoring black or white hat seo, i am better at black hat seo but im giving white hat a chance.

White hat seo methods used
Partnerships none paid
Guest blogging
Forum posting
Article Marketing the right way
Extreme site growth
Social Media
and a few other techniques learned from link liberation 2.0

Black hat seo methods used
Blog roll renting
3 tier linking
1-3 satellite sites
Trust me the works

Black hat tools used
Xrumer
Scapebox
Seo nuke x
and U bot
Extreme spinning, over 100 percent unique per 10 copies

Both site will get around 5-10 hours of work a week and no more. Both sites are really easy to rank for. Each site will make me money . This test is for me to really see if white hat can compete with BlueFart for my own gains.

Total budget for each site is 1k

Hope you guys enjoy my log will try to keep it up to date on a day to day bases.

Sites are currently under 15 pages each

P.S. There is a very large chance i will rank number 1 before the 90 day mark. When is the key for me

P.P.S The white hat site will be focusing on total site development with many pages being made, while black hat will focus more on link building

P.P.S.S. This test wont start for a few days so feel free to ask questions and or add comments.
#black #case #hat #seo #study #white
  • Profile picture of the author seanpearse
    Hey MrShades I'll watch with interest! I've seen a few of these experiments before but they haven't really came up with anything conclusive apart from reaffirming what we already know that black hat will get results quicker. What I am really interested in is the life-expectancy of the blackhat optimisation.

    Nice thread though mate I'll be keeping an eye on it
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  • Profile picture of the author mrshades
    Thanks for your interest! I have been doing only black hat for so long that when i joined link liberation 2.0 it seems like 10x the work. But you know what ill give both of these sites 100 percent my own attention and outsource all my other sites.
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  • Profile picture of the author App Developers
    I love seo experiments such as this! I will check in and check for updates. I already have an opinion but can't wait to see what you discover.
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    Just an early guess: Black Hat is going to win out massively in the beginning. But over (a long) time the white hat site should rise and sustain.

    Will be fun to follow though.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrshades
    Sorry for the wait guys x-mas.... you know how it is .

    Update ranking... 0 work done on site over xmas.
    There was only 1 change in serps and that was on the white hat site keyword that was ranked 13 is now ranked 11. Just check all my keywords are up 1-3 spots for both sites. exciting for now work

    Update on strategy just did 3 tier pyramid for black hat site with a scrapebox blast being tier 3. Started Social Media for both sites. White hat site also has 2 new relationships for guest blogging.

    Update on on-site changed. Each site is now going to be growing like crazy. 3-5 pages a day. All the content even on black hat site will be original and will all be sent through there social media channels for a bit of buzz. I really want to speed up the ranking on these site which is why they are both going to be growing at such a rate. Will update in 1 week with links build and results.

    WEEK 1 has officially begun
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  • Profile picture of the author didyouknow
    interesting!

    one suggestion for a fair comparison: spin the content for the black hat site.. don't write unique content.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrshades
    Originally Posted by didyouknow View Post

    interesting!

    one suggestion for a fair comparison: spin the content for the black hat site.. don't write unique content.
    I will agree i have thought about that... or even an auto blog... problem is the black site is still worth 5k++ a year. I don't like to chance money but if enough people agree i will have only spun content on there
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    • Profile picture of the author didyouknow
      Originally Posted by mrshades View Post

      I will agree i have thought about that... or even an auto blog... problem is the black site is still worth 5k++ a year. I don't like to chance money but if enough people agree i will have only spun content on there
      I see.. well wouldn't want to risk losing a site like that.. only spin content for your web2.0 sites and articles
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      • Profile picture of the author mrshades
        Originally Posted by didyouknow View Post

        I see.. well wouldn't want to risk losing a site like that.. only spin content for your web2.0 sites and articles
        trust me no original content will be made for offsite seo on the blackhat side at least
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    • Profile picture of the author Laubster
      Originally Posted by mrshades View Post

      I will agree i have thought about that... or even an auto blog... problem is the black site is still worth 5k++ a year. I don't like to chance money but if enough people agree i will have only spun content on there
      I agree of spun versus non-spun would make it more complete regarding black versus white, but totally up to you given $$ is at stake.
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    • Profile picture of the author Melissa82
      Originally Posted by mrshades View Post

      I will agree i have thought about that... or even an auto blog... problem is the black site is still worth 5k++ a year. I don't like to chance money but if enough people agree i will have only spun content on there
      No need to spin the content. I think the primary test here is off-page SEO so don't risk it with spun content unless you plan on editing it for grammar after.

      Good luck!
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      • Profile picture of the author asiancasanova
        Awesome case study, I'll watch with intense interest.

        I've had 3 websites I promoted with mostly blackhat seo and got good rankings after a month.... BUT shortly afterwords ranking dropped dramatically afterwards until they were not even ranked!
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  • Profile picture of the author ukcarl
    Cool case study, I will be keeping an eye on this one.

    Do you have any projections for each sites earnings in position 1.

    Also how do you plan to monetize these sites
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  • Profile picture of the author JSProjects
    Thanks for the update. Looking forward to seeing where this goes.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrshades
    Quick update did no work last week because of family issue. Now rocking and ready to blow this out of the water. Big changes in the sites for the new year will update all chances and such tomorrow!
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  • Profile picture of the author Matt Red
    Sounds interesting, i'm excited to see how this goes.

    I predict that in the short term the blackhat site wins. But i guess well have to see.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrshades
    Another quick update for you guys black hat site is up about a page each keyword and targeting a new keyword just because it can rank for it in under a month... this coming mon i will show new stats
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  • Profile picture of the author carlamax
    black hat seo like spamming or using robots for backlink purpose.on the other hand back linking in legal way called white hat.....
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  • Profile picture of the author mosthost
    I really think 'the black hat' website described by the OP is a 'white hat' website with a 'black hat' backlinking scheme being employed.
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  • Profile picture of the author Buyseech
    I dont see the "black hat"-ness in your 3 mentioned linking tactics... Some are a bit dodgy, but :

    1.) getting on someones blog roll (doesnt matter if its renting or actually getting there). So somebody likes my blog and i will get penalized for it? Yeah right...

    2.) 3 tier backlinking....hum....does that mean I cant boost my web 2.0. sites that are pointing to my money site? Yeah right.... But I believe you ment some schemes that blast out thousands of links in a continual scheem right?

    3.) Same as above...if you reffer to web 2.0. sites (hubs, lenses etc.) as sattelites.

    Just my thoughts
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  • Profile picture of the author hassanpiano
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author djv1120
      Originally Posted by hassanpiano View Post

      everything should be white hat. Anything else is CHEATING and immoral, unethical, and the money received that way is actually worth less if we could see with spiritual eyes. SO, even some of the white hat appraoches are questionable, however, in the end, the truth and REAL quality wins right? (sorry for being a bit self righteous sounding and perhaps bitter but I just went through massive passive video training and asked for a refund because I found the methods unethical) :/
      By definition, doing ANYTHING to artificially raise the rank of your pages is black hat because the search engines want to make ranking decisions on unbiased information. That means there is no such thing as "white hat" SEO (at least off page). If you publish even one article promoting your own website, you are attempting to influence the search engines for your own interests which is technically "black hat".

      With that said, what it really comes down to is quality of content. If you buy a cheap automatic spinner which produces garbage content, you are adding no value to the internet. If you assume every piece of content published will be read by somebody and create readable content that makes sense and provides even a little worthwhile information, you are actually helping whoever reads that content. You are making the web a better place to be and I can't see anything wrong with that.

      What is unethical and immoral is publishing incorrect or harmful content even if it is unique and you don't make any money from it.

      Just my humble opinion.
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      • Profile picture of the author djv1120
        Are there going to be any more updates? I came across this thread doing a search for extreme seo tools and found it interesting. Unfortunately it seems to have stopped about 6 weeks ago.
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  • Profile picture of the author 4morereferrals
    yawwwwnnnnn .... yet another "case study" that fizzles.

    Work Sucks huh?
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  • Profile picture of the author Cantbedone!
    Originally Posted by mrshades View Post

    Hello everyone and welcome to my case study

    This case study is more for me then for everyone else, though it will give out TONS of free information on both white hat and black hat seo.Up front i will be creating private networks but they will not be implemented until after the three month period is over. They are more for targeting the roots of some of the keywords.....

    I will watch with interest as long as it gets updated. Hopefully you will see it through to completion which is something I have yet to see anyone do with these "case study" threads.

    At any rate, I'm really hoping you follow through. I would looove to see the results.

    Good Luck
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  • Profile picture of the author Kreative4
    Interesting case study. Subscribed
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  • Profile picture of the author mrshades
    Lol sorry guys i sold both sites a while back.... both white hat and black hat did fine because i picked really easy keywords ... sadly both made it about the same amount of time... im still a blackhat man till i can find a white hat style that can produce better results.... Im doing a more in depth look at blackhat case study on this forum in a day or two, keep an eye out for some great free info
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  • Profile picture of the author mrshades
    http://www.warriorforum.com/adsense-...-hat-test.html is the next test... i will keep this one as current as i can, money is not involved so no reason to get picky with my scraped articles
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  • Profile picture of the author weheartcontent
    Subscribed. I have a few blackhat tricks of my own which are almost similar to yours. Have had some nice results from it. Would like to see how this pans out for you. Subscribed.
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