What is the difference between white hat and black hat SEO?

White hat SEO and black hat SEO are two contrasting approaches used to improve a website's search engine rankings. White hat SEO refers to ethical and legitimate techniques that focus on long-term growth and user experience. It involves creating high-quality content, optimizing website structure, utilizing relevant keywords, and obtaining backlinks naturally. White hat SEO strategies comply with search engine guidelines and aim to provide valuable and relevant information to users. On the other hand, black hat SEO involves using deceptive and manipulative tactics to quickly boost rankings, often at the expense of user experience. Such techniques include keyword stuffing, hidden text, link schemes, and creating low-quality content. Black hat SEO tries to exploit search engine algorithms rather than providing value to users. While black hat SEO may lead to short-term gains, it carries significant risks as search engines can detect such tactics and penalize or ban the offending websites. White hat SEO, being more sustainable and focused on long-term growth, ensures better results and a positive reputation for a website or business.