Yup. Its true to some extent that SEO is hacking in many of the ways.
Its just that search engines keep rewriting their code to try and give the sites with quality content a higher place. Sites with articles, forums, blogs and sale sites keep working to get around that. In hacking white, grey, and black hat are fairly common terms.
White Hat
White-Hat stands for those firms who do not break laws and follow the rules as prescribed by Search Engines without violating EULAs.
Grey-Hat
There is a new term quiet popular..i.e. Grey hat. Its for those who are willing to break rules for what they feel is a for good cause.
Black-Hat
These are the really spoliers and bad guys just like in old american cowboy movies. They have no care for laws and rules, and they do things completely for themselves. A blackhat SEO tends to use objectionable techniques around in forums & social sites such as MySpace for their own advertisings.
White hat is smart business. Examples of black hat are spam and cloaking. Certainly the white hat works are the ultimate things which will give you major gains and relief in longer term. But still the fact remains that spamming is quicker and easier than doing it right. Not to mention its just remain for a short term.
