The job of an SEO ranking expert is to improve the visibility of a website on the search engines, in order to help the site get higher volumes of targeted visitors. In general, the aim is to get the site as close to the top of the first page results for keywords matched to the theme or topic of the site.
SEO ranking experts who concentrate on white hat methods, use only ethical techniques to improve website ranking. They are basically obeying the search engines own rules, and are therefore more likely to be rewarded and achieve long term results.
Most SEO ranking experts would agree that the best action is to follow the rules and give the search engines what they want. By doing this, you are more likely to be properly rewarded and achieve much better results.