White hat refers to the SEO techniques that are considered ethical. White hat SEO follows the guidelines set by search engines and involves creating content for users, not for search engine spiders. Even though it will take a while before your site gets a high ranking, it is best to optimize your website in an ethical manner.

On the other hand, black hat pertains to SEO practices that are frowned upon by search engines. Black hat SEO is done to improve site ranking faster and in an unethical way. Techniques include cloaking, keyword stuffing, and creating doorway pages. If you use black hat SEO, your site will be penalized or worse, banned from search engines.