White hat SEO

What belongs to white hat SEO?

For Google, the benchmark is the Search Essentials, which consist of technical requirements, spam policies and key best practices. Practices that Semrush and Ahrefs list as white hat include creating content for readers, matching search intent, keyword research, mobile-friendly pages, structured data and earning links through good content or PR.

The technical requirements are short. Googlebot must not be blocked, the page must return an HTTP 200 status code, and it must have indexable content.

Does white hat SEO guarantee rankings?

No. Google says a page that meets all requirements is not guaranteed to be crawled, indexed or served. It also says it does not cost any money to appear in Google Search results. Following the guidelines avoids the demotions and removals that the spam policies describe. It does not replace relevance or quality.

Example

A site owner builds a guide on a topic, uses the words searchers use in the title and headline, keeps every page reachable for Googlebot and asks partner sites for links on their own merit. None of these steps conflicts with the Search Essentials.

FAQ

What is the difference between white hat and black hat SEO? White hat follows search engine guidelines. Black hat deliberately breaks them to manipulate rankings.

Is there something between the two? Semrush mentions a gray hat approach that mixes both. Google gives no definition for it.

Last updated: October 7, 2026