The SEO code of ethics is the ‘acceptable’ techniques practiced by website users to promote pages or sites by attempting to place them in high ranking positions. This high ranking position will increase the visibility of the site and this may lead to increased profits and ROI. The exposure of the website is vital to the survival and growth of the company and the expansions of Internet business have become very competitive indeed.

This has lead to the increase of illegal and unethical practices to maintain a spot on the SEO rankings. Many establishments would like to create a code of ethics whereby users can ascribe to as many unethical practices have emerged since the scramble for the top positions.

Search engine optimizers have however come up with utilities that in many cases have exposed users that are practicing unacceptable techniques. Yahoo, Google and MSN are some of the SEO’s that provide guidelines for using acceptable techniques when doing website promotion.

Some of the Guidelines by the Major SEO’s

SEO’s have guidelines as to how many keywords or keyword phrases are allowed in promoting a website. Pages that produce inaccurate search results are strongly opposed as well as doorway pages that show the user to another page.  These are keywords that are used excessively on specific pages that targets the SEO to promote its rankings.

The use of brand names or competitor’s names in a wrongful or illegal manner is definitely not recommended. Page contents that differ when first read by the SEO and when it eventually reaches the user. A site that has been cross-linked excessively to make it appear well known and frequently accessed is a highly irregular practice.

Black hat Techniques

Unethical SEO techniques are those practices that are discouraged by search engine optimizers as opposed to ethical SEO. Black Hat Techniques are practices that should be avoided to prevent the website from being obliterated by the SEO. Using hidden links or texts is a popular black hat technique. This ‘disguise’ enables the spamdexer to pass on information that cannot be detected and therefore many unwanted or illicit text goes into circulation.

The duplication of texts from other sites is another black hat technique that has increased with time despite the fact that heavy penalties may occur if the offence is reported to the SEO. Black hat techniques have been used successfully by many users until such time that they are detected by the SEO’s and heavy penalties have been imposed upon them.

The often short lived success story may turn into a nightmare much sooner than you think. New technology enable SEO’s to detect spamming at an even faster and accurate rate. The website will not only lose its rankings but may be banned from the internet altogether. The chances of being re-indexed after being caught spamming are very slim even after changes and repairs to the website have been made. The only other option left may be to buy a new domain and start again from scratch.

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