All this Talk Of The iPad Is Driving Me Insane!

HTML 5 Coming To A Neck Near You Soon! Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniello/422213306/

So what’s the big news of last week? Okay, I promise not to mention the iPad. Oops. Sorry. To be perfectly honest, I am looking forward to seeing the proposed product in practice, but may not actually buy one.  The huge reason for this is the lack of Flash support. Now, don’t flog me – I don’t like flash for the web in general, however a huge portion of video and game sites rely on it. Steve Jobs seems to like it even less than I do:

He called Adobe “lazy” and confirmed that ipad’s would not feature flash – ever “so there. Source FreshEgg Blog

What does that mean? Well the screenshot below kind of summarizes quite succinctly:

iPad Equals No Pr0n - Highest Rated Comment on recent Engadget Post (click to follow through to engadget post)

OK, So What?

To me, the real story is that major media owners may start taking HTML 5 more seriously, if only to ensure that they do not lose traffic opportunities because of lack of iPad support. On the other hand, it prompted me to pull out my bookmarks on HTML 5 and start reading – I am not technically adept, and need to continuously read up on stuff. The stuff below is a result of me going through those bookmarks..

HTML – Affecting SEO?

Any markup changes can and will have effect on SEO; from lowering / increasing load times by reducing code bloat, to identifying key elements of a page.

Not only that, but as an SEO it is important to know how your on page link placement should be carried out, and how search engines will change their view on certain links if the site is coded in HTML 5. Will there be a wider use of the Rel attributes of links so as to establish relationships? How will those attributes play a role in Search Optimisation?

What about the rest of the On Page Links? For example, will links in the Footer element be heavily discounted? We know that search engines already segment the common links on the page, and have potential signals they use to identify those common elements. Should we make their work easier by actively identifying that content? Some SEOs I know actively refuse to use indicators such as <div id=”footer”>, and switch them to non identifiable div ID’s  so as to dampen the signals given out.

Currently, most content is wrapped in < div > or < span > tags regardless of what it is. There are new tags being introduced by HTML 5 with semantic meaning, such as < article > (for an independent piece of content eg. blog post or news article), < nav > (for navigation), < footer >,< header >, < audio >, < video > and even a < dialogue > element. < aside > can be used to indicate a piece of content removed slightly from the rest of the page in terms of relevance.  Source: Big Mouth Media

At the moment most of us will be speculating on what these changes mean, but most of us have caught onto certain common changes that we all think will impact on-site SEO.

HTML 5 will introduce new features that help us (and search engines) better dissect a webpage. In the past, <div> elements have been used everywhere where, in HTML 5 an array of elements will be available to describe navigation, text sections, articles and headers. The improved sectioning could quite easily assist a search engine in understanding the layout of a page. Source: SEOGadget

At this point in time, I cant really advise on HTML 5 and its effects on SEO, but I can say that whatever it will be, it is sure to be some sort of shift worth keeping an eye on. Definitely Video Optimisation for SERPs will be impacted.

The fact is search engines are making more an effort to semantically index and analyse data is demonstrated by their continued support of microformats.

A maybe less highlighted tid bit is that the HTML5 editors are Ian Hickson of Google, and David Hyatt of Apple. (take that info as you may…)

Cheat Sheet

HTML 5 Cheet Sheet (PDF - Via Woorkup.com - click image to download)

Thanks to the people at woorkup.com for putting together the cheat sheet above .

Resources

Although you should read the content I have linked to in the body of the post, here are a few additional links worth looking at.

• Edward Lewis (@pageoneresults) always does a thorough job of identifying elements. I read his SEO and html 4 elements piece with great interest, and am looking forward to his take on html 5.
• Dive into HTML is an ongoing manuscript for a book to be published by O’Reilly.
• The Bruce Clay Blog does a decent overview on what HTML 5 means for SEO and Video Optimisation.
• Hobo Web does a simple code example on how common elements on a page would look if coded on html 5.
• HTML 5 and Web Applications.
• Rich Snippets Testing Tool (via SEL).
• Rich Snippets and SEO By Pete Young
• Google Bets Big on HTML 5 post by Tim O’Reilly.
• Youtube HTML5 Video Beta.
• Google Takes some shortcuts when it comes to its own home page code.

The Colour of SEO

Image source Hex Colours (hat tip SebastianX)

Sometimes it’s important to ask questions that may have answers that you already know. One such question popped in my mind yesterday, which obviously found its way onto twitter:

Ok Question tweeps: As an SEO do you NEED to know “black hat” tactics? Thoughts?

To my surprise I had a phenomenal number of responses. I either caught twitter at a good time, or the question is one that attracted peoples attention.

Of course not all answers were what I expected… Steve Plunkett asked:

define black hat tactics… lol

Fantomaster owns the Gray Hat

…which to be honest is a perfectly good question. How DO you define Black Hat SEO? How do you recognise the difference between those who are Black Hat and those that are merely hackers for hire? I think Greg Boser nailed it (and I think others thought so too, his response was retweeted a lot):

It’s pretty easy for me to define. I consider BHSEO the act of breaking rules, not laws.

That’s the difference. Search Engines have a whole bunch of rules they don’t like us violating, and which typically lead to sites being kicked out of the SERPs if caught. Breaking those rules makes you a BHSEO ( I won’t debate the whole buying links and Gray Hat SEO thing here because it’s much debated and covered territory). Hackers work outside the law. Case and point? The whole Ugg Boots scene that played out in the UK recently. I consider the whole Link Injections scene to be beyond Black Hat and illegal.

Of course some people like my friend Dave Snyder just refuse to belong to a classification…

Dave Snyder "I only wear hats Cause I am Bald"

(Dave is Co-Founder of Search and Social and regular blogger at Search Engine Journal)

But getting back to the point, do I as a White Hat SEO need to know Black Hat tactics? Do I need to understand the intricacies of the Dark Side? Why? Shouldn’t I just run at the mention of black hat? My twitter peeps don’t seem to think so:

@wiep (who by the way is a link building genius) how else would you know what white is? Which he then followed by the biggest problems are caused by cowboys who think they’re wh, but don’t have an f*ing clue what they’re doing…

@andyheaps(Head of Search at Latitude) need to know what they are and be able to recognise them, not necessarily implement them…

…unless you’re selling viagra!

@drewhoward as an SEO I think you do need to make yourself aware of black hat tactics so you know what to avoid and how to stay ethical

@mosquitohawk I think it helps if you’re going to really say you understand the search engines, but isn’t required to improve rankings generally

@MichelleRobbins Was quite succinct: absolutely.

@swerveball yeah. you need to be aware / have some understanding. you can’t master something by only studying half.

@APSG 9/10 times they’re the ones who find the exploits first – you could look at how to waterdown the tactic turn it grey / white

@SEO_Doctor often debated that. If you can do quality white hat, then no. Big G is getting too good at filtering. But it’s great playing…

@robwatts definitely – you need to understand dirty tricks to combat them

@davidjmain only to know what to Avoid!

@DavorGoldie I think you should have an understanding of blackhat tricks, tactics etc. You need to know what you’re up against…

@Fearless_Shultz I say yes, if nothing else to know whether you might be inadvertently using them! But also they can inspire white hat variants…

@GregBoser not only know, but be proficient at it. Anything less is a disservice to a client.

@Dixon_Jones (Dixon is the director of Receptional who do run the Majestic SEO Campaign) Sooner or later, you’ll do something “black” by mistake if you don’t know what you’re doing.

@yrewol (although unknown in the general SEO industry, I vouch this guy is a genius, and I consider him a good friend) you absolutely do need to know them. Whether you use them or report them, you need to understand them and their impact.

@Matt_Siltala I think if you do not test, and have never tested on the dark side, you really can’t call yourself an SEO

@seoidiot just give them a white hat name ………. “commercial link programme anyone?”

@Skitzzo i think you need to be able to spot the most frequently used BH tactics so you can understand why sites outrank you etc.

@fantomaster (if you don’t know this man, you need to read up. He KNOWS Black Hat SEO) Expectably, my take is: Most certainly! If only to stay in the loop on the state-of-the-art side of things. (BTW Ralph is launching Customized Content Creation soon)

But for me one of the best analogies was by Kenny Hyder (who by the way just launched Awesome Tools):

Do cops NEED to know how to think like criminals? Gotta know both sides to compete on either.

As you can see form the responses above, there is a certain pattern to peoples thoughts regarding BH SEO. What does that tell me? That I NEED to know Black Hat SEO:

because I should be able to spot any of it by my competition

because I have to make sure I am not inadvertently using it

because there may be tricks that could be used in WH SEO

because that is the way I stay on top of the game

And this old job posting on Search Engine Watch encourages me to add one more:

5. because my cients may request that I do

Some Resources:

(disclaimer: visit these sites at your own risk And be careful with any techniques, however harmless, that they talk about.)

• Although not always Black Hat, Eli’s Blue Hat SEO blog should be on your reading list.
• Syndk8 is a self styled and out  and open Black Hat Company.
• Earl Grey is famous in the Black hat field.
• A pretty Good Article in questioning if Black Hat theory is Advanced SEO
• The Quadzilla Forums are famous for insane tricks.
• The Irish Wonder Blog has got it’s routes in Black Hat.
• Another SEO Black Hat blog…
• The Black Hat forum is usually ripe with ideas.
• Sebastian isnt a black hat (that i know of) but is one of the most advanced bloggers I know.
• SEO Wolf has a few decent links to some Black Hat Tools (hat tip)
• Slightly Shady is a long time fav, and I just remembered he wrote Why Whitehats need to know Blackhat SEO way back in 2008.

With that, I leave you to draw your own conclusions as to why YOU need to know Black Hat SEO – and feel free to add your thoughts in the comments! (Oh and a Fantomaster Special below )

Blackhat vs White Hat - Conversation