Ethics and SEO

by Sapphire (February 19, 2005)

This is a rather basic concept, and yet it’s clear to me most people don’t get it: Ethical Search Engine Optimization Explained

I agree with this article. As a searcher, I know how it feels to get worthless results. So I don’t want to contribute to that. I build good sites based on what I’d like to see, particularly if I’m not finding it anywhere.

But how do I get people to see my sites? Some people swear the SE’s give good results. Or some people are brand loyal to one while disparaging the others. I find I often have to repeat my search queries at several engines before I find anything that suits me. I’m probably pickier than most people, but I’m also a lot more experienced at coming up with search queries that dig out the results I need.

On every engine, I see spammers rewarded with top spots. Now, I don’t expect the SE’s to always be a step ahead of these guys,. but sometimes they maintain their top spots through several updates. Now, how long does it take to get a circular link farm that never leads to an actual site out of the #1 spot? How did it get there anyway?

It doesn’t happen as much as it used to, but it still happens a lot. These guys are somehow getting high rankings without providing ANYTHING but links - usually to other sites of roughly the same value.

So how does someone who’s created a really great site get it out there? I don’t think there’s a truly ethical way to do it effectively - not by my standards. I do think there are ways of “less harm”, but even that issue gets complicated.

See, if this were print or TV, we could just buy ads. That’s ethical enough. But on the web, the only sensible place to buy the ads is on the SE’s. Like AdWords, for example. Too bad they don’t have more competition, like print and TV do. Here’s hoping they’ll get some.

Posted in SEO
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