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SEO and SEM: Legal and Ethical Considerations

SEO and SEM are very powerful tools that you can use to get your business seen in the right places. SEO is search engine optimization. SEM is search engine marketing. SEO focuses on optimizing your website so that traffic can find you organically. SEM is when you pay to be at the top of the search results for certain keywords. 

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A business owner must be very careful when it comes to these tactics. While they are great tools, there are many ways to cut corners and even put your consumer at risk.

Ethics

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"We’re drawn to the idea of ethics because it gives us a framework to understand the impact of our existence" (Indigo,2019). Search engines have their own rules of what is and is not acceptable. One must guide their business to these standards to maintain a solid reputation. Black Hat is a nefarious term for doing sneaky, unethical things, especially on the internet. With SEO this is basically cutting corners when it comes to getting ahead in SEO.

"Ethical SEO is a slow and gradual process that gets based on a search engine strategy. A person can quickly identify the changes in progress, thus maintaining high levels of transparency". Some examples of being unethical are:

  • pathways to direct visitors to other webpages that contain a collection of other links or irrelevant information.
  • Stealing content
  • Trading links.
  • Using auto-generated content with a lot of keywords

(Great Learning, 2019)

Don't Be a Shortcut Sally

Sure, there are a lot of businesses out there that will sell you followers, that promise web traffic. It sounds nice and all, but when you are buying followers....yep it says you have one million followers on Instagram....but are you really accomplishing your goal? Do these people follow you because they care about your brand or offerings? Are they going to offer ROI? In short, the answer is flat out....NO. This holds true with a website, sure you can buy traffic nefariously, but will it really pay off? Will it change your business for the better? Again, no. So do the right thing, grow your business the ethical way, not just in SEO and SEM, but in every move you make.

 

REFERENCES:

Great Learning. (2019, September 12). Ethical seo. Medium. https://medium.com/my-great-learning/ethical-seo-vs-unethical-seo-44087306e2f0 

Indigo, J. (2019, August 20). What is ethical seo?. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/what-is-ethical-seo/318483/#close 

 

https://medium.com/my-great-learning/ethical-seo-vs-unethical-seo-44087306e2f0
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