‘White Hat SEO’ refers to the legitimate professional search engine optimization techniques designed to improve the ‘natural’ or ‘organic ranking’ of a web page within the search engine results pages (SERPs).
There are numerous ‘on-page elements’ and ‘off-page elements’ involved in the professional optimization of web pages. What distinguishes ‘White Hat SEO’ from the illegitimate ‘Black Hat SEO’ is that ‘White Hat’ practices do not in any way compromise the integrity of the search engine or its ability to render its services at the highest possible level. ‘Black Hat’ practices are intended to trick the search engine into believing it is satisfying a requirement that it is in fact not actually doing so.
‘White Hat SEO’ works with the objectives of the search engine in an attempt to honestly meet requirements to be granted top ranking positions. Penalties for the practice of ‘Black Hat SEO’ include being banned from the search engine and may even include litigation. For more information see ‘Black Hat SEO.’