Black Hat SEO = Illegal SEO practices ( AVOID ) White Hat SEO = Legal SEO, unique content, proper backlinking policy etc.... ( SHOULD BE IMPLEMENTED )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_engine_optimization SEO techniques can be classified into two broad categories: techniques that search engines recommend as part of good design, and those techniques of which search engines do not approve. The search engines attempt to minimize the effect of the latter, among them spamdexing. Some industry commentators have classified these methods, and the practitioners who employ them, as either white hat SEO, or black hat SEO.[29] White hats tend to produce results that last a long time, whereas black hats anticipate that their sites may eventually be banned either temporarily or permanently once the search engines discover what they are doing.[30] An SEO technique is considered white hat if it conforms to the search engines' guidelines and involves no deception. As the search engine guidelines[31][17][18][19] are not written as a series of rules or commandments, this is an important distinction to note. White hat SEO is not just about following guidelines, but is about ensuring that the content a search engine indexes and subsequently ranks is the same content a user will see. White hat advice is generally summed up as creating content for users, not for search engines, and then making that content easily accessible to the spiders, rather than attempting to trick the algorithm from its intended purpose. White hat SEO is in many ways similar to web development that promotes accessibility,[32] although the two are not identical. Black hat SEO attempts to improve rankings in ways that are disapproved of by the search engines, or involve deception. One black hat technique uses text that is hidden, either as text colored similar to the background, in an invisible div, or positioned off screen. Another method gives a different page depending on whether the page is being requested by a human visitor or a search engine, a technique known as cloaking. Search engines may penalize sites they discover using black hat methods, either by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from their databases altogether. Such penalties can be applied either automatically by the search engines' algorithms, or by a manual site review. One infamous example was the February 2006 Google removal of both BMW Germany and Ricoh Germany for use of deceptive practices.[33] Both companies, however, quickly apologized, fixed the offending pages, and were restored to Google's list.[34] --- Basically... whitehat = almost acceptable to Google blackhat = totally unacceptable
When you follow the Google guidelines then is called WHITE HAT SEO If you not obey the Google guidelines then is called BLACK HAT SEO
White Hat SEO = ethical methods ( as per search engine guidelines) Black Hat SEO = unethical methods ( not supported by search engines)
Black hat methods basically include methods to trick search engines but they also assure that your website get banned. and white hat means being clean and going according to guidelines provided to you by search engine.
who comes up with names like white hat, black hat,, etc; to define illegal or legal practices? Why's all gotta be white or black...can we not have Red hat SEO!!!
There's also "grey hat" which is somewhere in between. There are a slim number of tactics that really teeter the line either way.
black hat = search engines prefer you didn't, but can't automatically trap it. So they try and bluff you that terrible things will happen if you do it. Thus it deserves a scary name.
Technically, the way to really gain SERP ranking is for OTHERS to link to your site naturally. So in essence, if you post on a blog linking back to your site, that is blackhat SEO because the link back to your site DID NOT occur naturally.
Why do people think Black Hat is illegal? Unless Google makes the laws worldwide, grouping Black Hat with Illegal is a far stretch. Sure there's black hat tactics that do employ tactics in some countries which may be against the law like hacking sites and injecting links but for the most part black hat is just very smart marketing and tactics that manipulate Google's weaknesses. As far as i'm aware most black hats avoid illegal activities.
What do you call like doing tons of directory submissions, and paying for signature links on forums, etc. Is that gray hat?
Directory Submission - Fairly White Hat, Google recommends submitting your site to worthwhile or niche directories. Buying Signature - Well it's a paid link, if the link is Nofollow then White Hat because it's for traffic purposes and doesn't manipulate rankings. If it's Dofollow then Gray Hat, Google is against paid links that effect results.