[Date backtracked. I forgot I had this in my draft.]

There has been a lot of talk about Advanced SEO, and SEO turning to the “dark side”, since SMX Advanced in Seattle where (borderline) black hat tactics were given an unusual amount of air time. It has gone around for a while already, but here’s a delayed coverage of what some people said/are saying.

Lisa Barone on Traditional White Hat SEO being the ‘advanced’ SEO

In other words, don’t be so quick to let go of the traditional search engine optimization techniques in favor of the big Web 2.0 buzzwords. White hat SEO is evolving and is all the advanced SEO you need to rank well in the search engines and bring targeted visitors to your Web site.

..and her controversial “SMX Goes to the ‘Dark Side’ Coverage”

To me, advanced search engine optimization is about analytics, it’s about siloing, it’s about perfecting your site architecture so that you don’t have to even worry about tactics like cloaking for conditional redirects. There have to be other white hat advanced search engine optimization techniques out there.

Aloha Digital Marketing, on black hat techniques that were discussed at SMX Advanced:

I will say this: at least I know they exist and what techniques other might be using against me. I have knowledge of it now, and it makes me wiser to the games others might be playing.

Some rant found at YOUmoz :)

I think I should be able to CHOOSE to be a whitehat, I should know exactly what my target is, and I shouldn’t have to GUESS whether or not I’m doing something wrong.

Give me an advanced understanding of how Google works, and I’ll invent advanced white hat SEO. Until then…I’ll be getting my fix of advanced knowledge from the only side that has something to offer: the dark side.

A comment on that rant above :)

As an advanced SEO I think you need to know and understand the black hat tactics of the world. But most of those are not advanced either. They are just really imaginative ways of manipulating the system. Being black or white hat is all about intention in my book.

A lot has been said about Advanced SEO — it has been an endless discussion which started whoknowswhen. More than a year ago, Oilman already spoke in defense of SEO being “stupid easy”, and IMO, his argument is still mostly the same stuff SEOs fuss about until now.

As for me, I’m with Lisa B when she said that traditional white hat is advanced SEO, and probably the most you’ll ever need. It’s enlightening to know how blackhat SEOs maneuver their way around it, and to get a glimpse of the dark alleys and shortcuts they pass through, but in the long run, the public roads, no matter how crowded and traffic-congested they’ve become, is still the surefire way to get to the destination. I’d take the latter anytime.