Search Engine Optimization Specialist - Matters of Ethics

Google has created an excellent overview of the ethical practices every search engine optimization specialist should use for his clients. The world's most popular search engine also offers very keen insights about the rather unethical techniques an SEO firm or an consultant may use to get new clients.

See Google's Tip.

Here are some of the practices each search engine optimization specialist simply won't advocate:

• Cloaking
• Hidden Text
• Doorway Pages
• Index Spamming
• 1-Pixel Graphics
• Mirrored Content
• Page Jacking

Will you create multiple doorway pages?

NO - Each SEO specialist at Fathom SEO only creates additional content pages. Search engines may ban web sites for misusing doorway pages because many offer little value to the visitor. Any pages any SEO specialist makes accurately summarizes a company and its product and service. Web site owners should be cautious about how an SEO specialist creates "doorway," "bridge," "landing," and so-called "attraction" pages.

Are there options other than doorways?

YES - We collaborate with each client on content revisions and additional web site pages to make each web site as appealing as possible.

Does any SEO specialist at your firm support "cloaking," delivering one version of the web site to the search engines and another to Internet users?

NO - We believe cloaking is unethical. Page titles, META data, visible text, image alt tags, linked search terms on the web site, link popularity building with other web sites and other techniques help clients meet their objectives.

Do you hide keywords/phrases - matching the font with the background color?

NO - Neither Fathom SEO nor any SEO specialist working here ever uses this outdated technique; search engines could ban your site.

Do you create mirrored copies of the web site to increase the number of high rankings?

NO - Fathom SEO and each SEO specialist employed with us complies with common search engine policies. We may encourage the creation of extra web sites with unique content (i.e. focusing on a product line). A search engine optimization specialist would also recommend solutions to create a permanent redirect to one domain name. We don't create mirror web sites; our SEO specialists don't want our clients to get banned by search engines.

Will you register our web site with 200,000 search engines, as many web sites promise?

NO - A Fathom SEO specialist focuses on the most known search engines and directories. Although Yahoo!, Google, AOL and MSN are the most popular, we don't overlook Lycos, AltaVista, Ask Jeeves and others. Each SEO consultant here questions the value of the other 200,000. We know many are regional, national, or international web sites, or topic-specific directories. Many are Free For All (FFA) web sites, often a single page with hundreds of thousands of web sites packed together -- any registration can generate spam e-mail in return. They're not worth the effort or aggravation. Remember, "submission" doesn't ensure a listing. And a listing doesn't ensure a ranking on a web site that people actually use.

Each consultant has the expertise to assist you if you're interested in any of the following: website marketing, website promotion, SEO ranking, website optimization, search engine submissions, website rankings and more.