The labels “white hat” and “black hat” have been used to describe different degrees of risk-taking in optimizing a website in the hopes of maximizing search engine traffic. Yet so many unspoken assumptions attached to each “camp” have threatened to distort the reality on the ground. This panel at the last Search Engine Strategies conference in Chicago did a lot to generate solid debate about the same SEO tactics that are often glossed over and distorted by broad ethical categories that do little to address how search engines actually work. By packaging their approaches in black, white, and gray these panelists achieved what any good marketer aspires to: brand recall.