When researching an example of illegal or unethical SEO practices there isn’t a clear and definitive sections to find this. There arent any regulations by governments that restrict companies from their tactics rather the liability is through the SEO companies like Google and what they consider ethical. The example I have found is that in 2014 a law firm in Michigan sued its former SEO provider for their practice and tactics. These techniques ended up violating Google’s guidelines. Which negatively impacted the law firms site traffic in their opinion.
The main point in this article is that the SEO company Rainmaker Institute which specializes in marketing services for the legal profession specifically. Violated Google’s guidelines by building “link farms” for all of the law firms legal domains. This essentially was creating duplicated content which is something that really rides a very fine line between ethical and unethical “black hat” SEO practices.
There are some guidelines that SEO companies can follow to ensure they are practicing ethically. For example, Offering different links for separate websites (which is the example in this case), relative information, Inbound links, and adding a site map. Although this isn’t all of the methods that you can follow. These are some of the ways companies can ensure they stay ethical. To understand what an unethical practice would be its simply the inverse of what was mentioned above. The biggest thing is consumer deception when talking about unethical SEO practices.
There are many benefits of being ethical in SEO. One of which is simply to be transparent and honest in your strategy. With implementing this type of strategy it builds trust with your customer. If they click your link for the first time and they are bombarded with things they don’t expect like mentioned above. Odds are, you lost your company. Practicing in an ethical manner has many hidden benefits that the consumer might even be unaware of that will keep them coming back to your site.
Another benefit of being ethical with your SEO is the simple fact that in keeping your SEO ethical it allows your site and the way you market to be a lot more smooth. It creates better flow within your site and helps the consumer have better direction when navigating your site. This will also create more return on investment when you are more transparent because with every consumer click they are seeing exactly what they expect when visiting your site. When a consumer experiences that. They are more likely to come back if your site satisfies their initial need.
Sources:
About The Author Greg Sterling Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land, & Greg Sterling Greg Sterling is a Contributing Editor to Search Engine Land. (2014, August 04). Lawyers sue seo firm for violating google guidelines. https://searchengineland.com/lawyers-sue-seo-firm-violating-google-guidelines-192492
Ltd, O. (2013, January 14). Ethical seo vs. unethical seo. https://www.optimus01.co.za/ethical-seo-vs-unethical-seo/
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