7 Rules of Ethical SEO to Respect
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Do you practice SEO? You probably do! Maybe without knowing.
Every time you publish something on social media or your website you do SEO!
You probably consider headlines and keywords and want to get noticed or found.
This is SEO or search engine optimization according to the old school definition. Is it ethical though?
What is SEO and Why is it Ethical or Not?
In essence it’s about findability and visibility online. Yet many people quickly resort to “tricks“.
They want to trick Google, Facebook or whatever algorithm is assessing the importance of their words.
Tricking algorithms and thus people is of course unethical.
Thus the term ethical or “white hat” SEO has been coined.
What is Ethics and How Does it Work?
Ethics often consists of unwritten rules.
Those rules – while not being official laws enforced by governments – allow us to live together in peace and prosperity.
In church we also get reminded of what is right or wrong.
While laws and religions prevent us from inflicting the most obvious harm on each other
the deeper underlying ethics of civilization make us what we are, humans.
So ethics is the underlying fabric of our society. Without it we would go back to the stone age.
It works almost unconsciously by now. You know that
- cheating
- stealing
- killing
is wrong. Most people do not need law enforcement to keep them from doing it.
Yet, often cheating is hard to spot.
People are more prone to cheat when they think they can get away with it.
On the fast developing Web it’s frequent.
I often have been dissatisfied with the term ethical SEO for being a bad synonym for white hat SEO which only means “not cheating the search engines”.
Ethical SEO must be more than following search engine guidelines if we want to take ethics seriously.
During my career I have been approached by numerous potential clients I was not quite happy to work with.
These prospects were not only the usual online poker or escorts type of businesses that approached me quite frequently.
The cases were a little more complicated.
From Rejected Clients to Best Practices
I can’t retell the stories of all the clients I have rejected or ignored for ethical reasons over the years.
Instead I derived some of the 7 rules of ethical SEO to respect from the many shady business offers.
You could also call them best practices as they are derived from over a decade of business practices with often painful decisions.
- Don’t work for people who harm others, like weapons manufacturers, and those who work together with them
- Don’t work for people who compete with your existing or former clients (or at least not shortly after)
- Don’t keep on selling services that do not work anymore or are insufficient by now e.g. search engine submission, meta tag optimization, link exchange
- Don’t offer automated link building or social media promotion (as people on social media frown upon it)
- Don’t offer any spammy or low level SEO technique like blog commenting as link building e.g.
- Don’t work for companies that exploit their workers or users or treat them in a demeaning way
- Don’t work for industries you do not believe in or are in your opinion harmful for humans, animals or the planet
You could also express it more positively. Instead of “don’t work for industries yo do not believe in” you could say “work for industries you believe in”.
You could work for those who help others instead of harming them. There are always choices. You can do the right thing or just make more money and feel bad about it.
Potential Clients/Jobs I Have Rejected
Now that we have the rules let’s recount just a few clients I rejected or flatly ignored for ethical reasons:
When I was already “going vegan” but still just a vegetarian with some relapses to being flexitarian an old acquaintance suggested we work together.
He had this client who needed SEO. When he sent me the mail message with the link I had to almost puke. It was chicken factory farming.
Many vegans are vegan for ethical reasons.
Even though I wasn’t even vegan yet and very broke I couldn’t accept money for killing sentient beings on a massive scale.
When a new social media hype took over the news – a video site called TikTok you probably know by now – they were frantically looking for a content strategist to join their German team.
They even paid the taxi home after night shifts!
I’ve read a lot about TikTok and how they secretly track their users, even kids, and send the data back home where the Chinese regime has access to it.
It seems the Facebook data collection business model is timid in contrast!
TikTok has also been discriminating against “ugly” users, that is disabled, old or simply not wealthy enough people.
When a recruiter approached me on LinkedIn I couldn’t force myself to respond even though I really could have used a full-time job at that time.
The first rule on top of the list also applies to dictatorships.
A large international marketing agency wanted me for “one of several jobs” I was a match for. The catch: I’d have to move to UAE. They’d even pay for that!
You may not know it but the UAE or United Arab Emirates are an absolute monarchy ruled by same family for around 200 years!
I had to flee a tyranny when I was a kid and learned my lesson ever since.
The UAE are among the worst countries when it comes to digital freedom according to a recent study.
You can’t even use a VPN (Virtual Private Network) for online privacy there. It’s illegal!
In a monarchy “content is king” indeed. When you’re discontent you many end up in prison or executed.
The young, hip and sexy Instagram influencers don’t care and depict Dubai as the place to be. I’m indeed too old and I know too much.
Indeed it’s by now over 40 years ago that martial law has been established in Poland when I was a kid.
My father was stuck in Germany as the borders have been closed and tanks have been patrolling the streets.
A few years later we fled the still undemocratic country to reunite with my father in Berlin which was part of West Germany back then.
Why Respect These Rules
Now the rules are not unwritten anymore. Respecting them is very difficult at times.
Often money was tight and I had to think very long before saying “no”.
It’s like Jesus said, everybody sins from time to time: “who is without sin shall throw the first stone“.
You can at least try to abide by those 7 rules of ethical SEO though.
You don’t have to work for everybody and do everything for money.
Always consider your options before agreeing to cooperate with someone.
Why should you limit yourself to ethical business practices?
I believe that supporting harmful businesses will sooner or later harm you or people close to you.
Work for tobacco companies today and watch a family member die of cancer tomorrow.
Support a company that is bad for the environment and see your home devastated by the outcome of climate change next.
The time you spend on an unethical project could b´have been used more wisely.
Why not work for that non-profit that aims to stop climate change instead?
* (CC BY-SA 2.0) Creative Commons image by Aditya Doshi
Good for you, I think ethics are important & they help to create boundaries particularly when everything is going to hell! In Buddhism we say its creates bad karma which may come back to bite you if not in this life then the next. Its also no way to live on the planet with other people when we dont have respect for them & the planet!
I totally agree with the number 2 point (Don’t work for people who compete with your existing or former clients) I’m often approached by many clients competitors when they start wondering how the hell my clients have got above them on the front page of Google. White hat seo is the golden rule and some seo consultants are very tempted by the dark side (black hat seo) and guarantee quick front page listings in Google for example. This sounds great to new clients but after a month of boosting traffic it soon diminishes.
Great post
Matt
Can I offer a minor change for #5. Shouldn’t it be “Don’t offer blog commenting solely as a link building measure.” As you said in the linked post, commenting is a great way of making contact with other bloggers. It also exposes you to the blog’s readers. They are humans who can click on links. Even if the link is Nofollow, there are real benefits in pursuing an active commenting campaign. I agree that it isn’t only link building for search engines. Have I slipped over the boundary between SEO and PR? I find this boundary confusing.
Had a look at our client list regarding #2. We’ve come close (two hotels in two towns very close to each other), but they’re not competing (each town is a separate tourist attraction).
Great post (even if I agree with Glen, the title really doesn’t read well!). Bookmarked :)
[…] Update: I’ve found this great article on seo2.0 about what “Unethical” SEO is about, really thought provoking (and proves that I can be wrong at times!) – 7 Rules of Ethical SEO. […]
Ooh forgot to add. I did write a post similar to this about “Illegal SEO” on my blog you may be interested in.
http://www.deadsite.co.uk/2008/10/illegal-unethical-seo/
Basically, it makes me chuckle how many “SEO Experts” (i.e. people who solicit for SEO work on forums such as Digital Point), write things like “I’ve been buying paid links, are these Illegal?”. It’s the same with what you’re talking about. I’m sure some people would have no problems with picking up some clients that are a little shady, but worry about the smallest of things at times.
Shouldn’t the title be ‘probably ignore’?
As for number 2, I actually think that is quite common, most people don’t take on clients in the same niche. Or at least not clients competing for the same keywords.
Regarding #4, we’ve had this problem recently with another company, completely spamming one of our clients all over the web. If someone was to blog about it, it would look bad to us and them. I guess the best way to deal with that is to alert the client if you ever find it happening.
Good post, stumbled!
Cheers,
Glen
I always like to comment on blogs as a link building measure. I think it is ethical as long as your not spamming people.
Have to disagree with #2 completely.. How can you offer niche services to a specific niche if you only work with one client in that niche?? Marketing people specialize in specific verticals all the time, it’s what makes them worth more than people that scatter themselves all over the place..
Besides, in the end, we don’t rank clients, search engines do.. And if you do your absolute best for each client, then there is no conflict.. You do the work, you give the advice, you provide the tools, then it is up to the search engines and the companies themselves to decide which ranks better..
Feydakin, if you are going for the exact same main keywords then that is unethical in my opinion. Which client do you want to rank no.1? The one that is paying you more or the one that deserves to be there, you probably know which one deserves to rank above the other.
As for the same niche, I think it’s fine, but like I say…the target keywords shouldn’t overlap, at least not largely.
I have to disagree with #2. There are many agencies and search marketing professionals who specialize in an vertical niche, whether it be travel, hotels, sporting goods, teenage fashion, lawyers, doctors, etc. If a company wants to position themselves as the leader of a niche, and they can get results, taking on competing clients is part of the game.
Some clients want the expertise. They want to see results within their industry. Now, maybe there’s a line with two exact competitors vying for the exact same space. But many clients overlap in at least a few products or services, and that’s life. As long as you disclose to a potential client that you have client X, Y, and Z, there’s no reason not to. If the client doesn’t like it, they can go elsewhere.
DanielthePoet: Sorry, but that’s like coaching two or more basketball teams at the same time.
Glen: Right. Having two clients for the same niche makes you untrustworthy.
Franklin: As long as you comment personally in your name it’ll be fine most of the time but when SEO India offers that for clients it won’t work as smoothly.
Feydaykin: This may be a good business model as you can take away an authority link from one client and give it to the other and so on so that each client has to pay again to reach #1.
It’s not ethical though.
Dead Man: Yeah, LOL.
I don’t understand why you are asking to not to offer blog commenting as a link building service. Can you explain more on that ? I usually offer this service only
Rickky: Just follow the link to a whole post about that.
Glen, so you are saying all those vertical market service providers that provide websites, seo services, and marketing, all in one packages, say FindLAw and their firmsites, are unethical??
All of their clients are in the same market.. All of their clients compete for the same terms.. And to top it off, they have different levels of service..
Is it unethical to have a company like that?? I can point to nearly any professional industry, chiro, dental, jewelry, etc etc etc, and find several of these niche specific vendors..
To somehow declare that someone who specializes in a specific niche, and only has clients in that niche, is unethical is just mind blowing to me..
Kudos to you for posting about ethics. I just wanted to stop by and say this was inspiring. Thanks for the advice.
Blog commenting depends on what kind of comments you post. If it’s an actual interaction with the writer or other commenters/readers, then a backlink to the commenter won’t be so bad right? Like a small thank you gesture for reading the blog.
You could short it down to “don’t be evil”.
I also think that there is a difference between working for a weapons company and doing some blog commenting. As long as you take the time to actually read the blog posts and write something more than “grat post” I think it is ok.
“Don’t keep on selling services that do not work anymore or are insufficient by now e.g. search engine submission, meta tag optimization, link exchange, rankings (instead of ROI)”
I like that line, most of today’s SEO wannabe don’t care for the ROI just the ranking, hit the keyword and gone.
I agree with #3: providing better ROI.
It’s the only measurable improvement that matters because it’s the best result for your client.
Plus, smart clients & business owners are driven by numbers and dollars – NOT rankings.
When they ask for SEO work, they DON’T want to be number 1 on Google (no matter how many times they tell you that.) And spitting a bunch of SEO industry jargon at them won’t help.
The truth is, clients want to make more money! Stake holders don’t care where they rank – they want to know how much money they’ll make when you’re finished.
If you’re talking about ROI when trying to secure a new client, they’ll know you mean business.
Yes, I agree with that sometimes we don’t use these simple rules or simply we forget about them. You know how many times I heard from my ancient boss some of them but I ignored them. Yes, you are right that the harmful businesses is not a businesses.
I completely agree with these rules. My business isnt SEO, but the rules can be changed a bit to fit every business!
Completely agree with your idea about laws and religions that prevent us from inflicting the most obvious harms on others. And the deeper underlying ethics of civilization make us what we are, humans. That’s why thank you for your 7 rules of SEO.
“Don’t offer blog commenting as a link building measure”, I’ll just hop onto your other post as to why you are saying this.
There was a time when I was grossly overweight. At that time, I had no clue about the acai berry. I was fat, ugly, sloppy and laden with a negative attitude. This is when I saw Dr. Oz explaining about the acai berry on CNN. I was impressed and decided to try the acai berry myself. This is what it did to me.
I agree so much with number 3. It really irritate when saw people sell this kind of service. such as search engine submission. People don’t need it anymore. However as business owner, I can understand that people don’t change what they sold for a long time. Online business is always change. Some service go down, some service go up. We depend on search engine company anyway..
great post,I completely agree with these rules.
I like your number 2 point, “Don’t work for people who compete with your existing or former clients (or at least not shortly after).” I’m sure there’s a lot of SEO companies out there who do this but do not admit it… What would you do if something like this happened to your business? I’d probably cancel my contract…
Cheers!
Olivier