The search engine marketing industry has its share of bad apples. There are individuals and companies who promote and practice unethical optimisation techniques. Search engines frown upon attempts to manipulate their algorithms and often carry out penalties (automated or not). These techniques are also known as search engine spam. The rule of thumb is that anything that leads to content being visible to search engines but hidden to regular users is regarded as spam.
Before you hire a SEO make sure they are not employing illegitimate methods which could get your site banned from search engines. This is the number one reason business owners are afraid of opting for search engine optimisation. It can become so worrying, that businesses may not want to take chances at all. This will make them miss out on some excellent marketing opportunities.
Below are some techniques that are considered to be spam:
- Increasing keyword density beyond readability point in meta tags, titles and description, throughout the text, in ALT and TITLE tags etc
- Keyword spamming through comment tags which are hidden to users
- Hidden text and image links - These are normally visible to search engine spiders but not visitors.
- Delivering different pages to search engines than users.
- Creating spammy doorway pages just for search engines and not for users
These are the most common unethical practices in the search engine optimisation industry but there are more subtle ones which can be just as dangerous (for your site). Some SEOs:
- Promote websites by joining link farms and free-for-all links. These are considered to be bad neighbourhoods by search engines.
- Place hidden links back to their site from their clients' site without the owner's expressed consent. These will give their own site a boost in rankings but jeopardise the status of their clients' sites.
- Cross-link clients sites among themselves or with bad neighbourhoods
- Will guarantee top rankings in major search engines. In most instances they will get you top rankings for obscure keywords that don't bring any traffic and are of no use to you.
- Use their own network of shadow domains to boost rankings and traffic for your own. If you ever decide to terminate the contract, they can undo the off-site optimisation and your site will suffer as a consequence.
- Will add valueless content to your website that may work for search engines but will put your users off.
Ask the company you're thinking of hiring about the techniques they employ. Mention the above to them and see what they say. If you doubt the quality of their practices then it's best to move on and search a company that best fulfills your goal by playing by the rules. There are companies with impeccable track record and there are companies who base their activity on breaking the rules. Asking for references from clients may not always make clear whether the company is ethical or not. Clients may not be able to tell whether the employed tactics are ethical or not, especially because unethical strategies can, for a limited period of time, produce good results. A way of verifying their techniques is by joining forums such as Webmasterworld and asking for professional opinions. Forum members are helpful and can help you make an informed decision.
This article was first published on 17 August 2004 and does not necessarily match current events or the current opinions and views of bigmouthmedia ltd.
