For today’s blog post I will be discussing ethics in relation to SEO/SEM. I found a case from 2014 in Michigan where a law firm was suing an SEO provider for using spam techniques in their campaigns for the law firm. While the company had success in ranking from their SEO campaign, the company was violating “link farms” in their campaign. According to RankRanger.com, “A link farm is a website or group of websites which were created for the sole purpose of boosting another website’s PageRank by linking to the website from various pages in the link farm.” Google prohibits it and will even de-index sites that use this tactic, which in this case hurt the law firms website rankings.
Ethical vs. Unethical Practices
For today’s blog post I will be discussing ethics in relation to SEO/SEM. I found a case from 2014 in Michigan where a law firm was suing an SEO provider for using spam techniques in their campaigns for the law firm. While the company had success in ranking from their SEO campaign, the company was violating “link farms” in their campaign. According to RankRanger.com, “A link farm is a website or group of websites which were created for the sole purpose of boosting another website’s PageRank by linking to the website from various pages in the link farm.” Google prohibits it and will even de-index sites that use this tactic, which in this case hurt the law firms website rankings.
Ethical vs. Unethical Practices:
Ethical and Unethical tactics for SEO are also known as “white hate” and “black hat.” When you are conducting an ethical SEO campaign, you are abiding by all of the rules and regulations set forth by Google. You are taking into consideration the needs and privacy of your client, while always acting in their best interest. Ethical practices never involve sneaky or hidden tactics, and all moves are visible and transparent.
Some example of ethical practices include:
- Using relevant keywords and through content
- Different links on webpages
- Adding a sitemap
- Use of inbound links
Unethical practices while not technically illegal, is definitely frowned upon, and can hurt you when it comes to ranking on Google in the end. While ethical SEO can take months to a year to take effect, the aim of black hat tactics are to have automatic ranking though immoral means.
Some examples of unethical practices include:
- Javascript redirects
- Duplicating content
- Plagiarising others content and using it as your own
- Use of hidden text
The benefits of being ethical in your SEO campaigns, while they take time to take effect far outweigh cutting corners. Google highly favors authentic content, relevant keywords, and following their guidelines. If you use unethical practices, Google may decrease your search rankings, or even remove you in general. While you may get an increase of website traffic, they also could not be your ideal market. Finally, you will keep the trust of your clients, and your reputation.
References:
Ethical SEO vs. Unethical SEO: Optimus01 – Online Thinking. (2013, January 14). Retrieved from https://www.optimus01.co.za/ethical-seo-vs-unethical-seo/
Sterling, G., & Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land. (2014, August 04). Lawyers Sue SEO Firm For Violating Google Guidelines. Retrieved from https://searchengineland.com/lawyers-sue-seo-firm-violating-google-guidelines-192492
What Is Link Farming & Why Does Google Hate It? (n.d.). Retrieved December 07, 2020, from https://www.rankranger.com/seo-glossary/link-farm
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