Payday loan affiliate Cygnus has a nice take on the whole white hat / black hat thing:
So what about black hat? All that really means to me is using the unexplained rules of the system. It isn’t evil, it isn’t fraud, and it isn’t hacking. To do any of those previous nasty things would be outside the scope of aggressive, competitive, lateral thinking search engine optimization. Understand that and stop trying to divide the industry in such black and white terms (of which their descriptions are so aptly defined). A lateral thinking SEO will do what makes sense within the explained rules, but will then say to him or herself “I’m in a competitive industry” and/or “This is not an established brand”, and then follow up with a very important “What can I do that will set myself apart within a search engine’s algorithm?” If you dumb down what a search engine is to the level of a single database with a single data table, and a couple hundred fields, then it is easier to see what is happening. At any given point of time in an algorithm’s evolution (yes, they evolved, get over it…from bubblesort no less!) certain variables are going to be weighed more heavily than others, and some that fall into certain ranges are going to be treated as red-flags. Thus, lateral thinking SEO from the perspective of someone like me is to say to “when that giant sort button is pushed, how can I make sure I rank for something like payday affiliate?”
Keep making interesting posts on that domain and you’ll be well on your way. On the internet, you are competing in an ultra competitive marketplace where only the best will thrive. Lateral Thinking can help you make sure you cover all the best angles.
Need practice “thinking” in a non SEO setting? Try some lateral thinking puzzles - they’re pretty damn fun.
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