Most Internet users will agree that SEO has become a concern. Pretty much any search shows half a dozen sites trying to sell you something. If you’re looking to buy, that’s fine. But the search for information is becoming difficult.
The process of SEO, or search engine optimization, involves modifying your website in about 30 different categories to make it more “search engine friendly.” The most commonly targeted search engine is Google, but Yahoo and MSN are a close second and third. This makes perfect sense. If you want more sales, get more traffic. If you want more traffic, rank higher on Google. The marketing advantage of “top Google rankings” can turn nerds into overnight millionaires. So what’s wrong with gaining a marketing advantage?
Let me sketch an example from my senior philosophy class, loosely based on John Nash’s ‘Game Theory’:
“Consider the oceans and the fish in them. Imagine that we (or in this case, website owners) are all fishermen. If we all agree to take our own share by legitimate means and rely only on our own fishing skills, then we can all feed our families and maybe sell a few more for a profit. However, if we use some kind of illegitimate means to catch more fish, we will gain an unfair advantage. If there is no threat of punishment, there is only the threat of extinction of the fish. But as long as only one or two cheat, they get more of the fish and get fatter than the others.“
Now, everyone will start to notice. If there is no law enforcement agency in our small town (and almost none on the internet), then nothing stops the unscrupulous from doing whatever it takes to attract all the fish. So everyone starts doing it, using the argument: “If I don’t do it, my family will starve.” This is, as far as game theory is concerned, perfectly legitimate. To sum up:
If everyone cheats to gain an unfair advantage, then you are creating an unfair disadvantage for yourself by not cheating.
I would like to draw your attention to Google’s information for webmasters. The article is about what is accepted and what is not accepted regarding SEO. The guys at Google end the article by saying:
“It is not safe to assume that just because a specific deceptive technique is not listed on this page that Google approves of it. Webmasters who devote their energies to upholding the spirit of the basic principles listed above will deliver a much better user experience, and subsequently, will enjoy better ranking than those who spend their time looking for loopholes they can exploit.”
Google’s corporate motto is “Don’t be evil.” They continually update their search bot algorithms, just like the other search engines, to filter out certain behaviors. Google doesn’t even consider keyword META tags (the string of keywords you sometimes see below a search result) as they are common sources of keyword spam.
If you run a website that isn’t trying to sell something, you still want a lot of traffic. Non-commercial websites without big SEO budgets may be the sites you want to find, but your chances of doing so are slim to none. I live in South Africa and the most read blog around here is called 2OceansVibe. I don’t think they submitted to a single search engine or made an organic link. This blog receives thousands of visits per day solely by word of mouth. They have great content and are updated with an original post every day. Isn’t this the kind of traffic you’d rather have on your website?
Unfortunately, the good guys don’t finish last in the field of SEO, but that’s what the good folks at Google are working on while their plan for planet domination is still being worked out. After reading your page, I began the process of removing excess keywords and tags from my blog, WriteNonsense. I’m removing everything that isn’t 100% relevant from my list of tags and links, and increasing the frequency and quality of my posts.
SEO ethics poses a major dilemma for me, because I make a living writing SEO articles and helping websites get more traffic. I don’t do the SEO work myself, I’m a freelancer and I don’t have much control over my projects. Unfortunately, it’s gotten to the point where if we don’t cheat, we’ll be out. I optimized the keywords in the title of this article; after all, I want it to be read. However, because the accepted criteria for SEO practices are constantly being narrowed, I believe (as does Google) that your website will be much more successful in the long run if:
- Your content is king — Have good quality content that is relevant to what your site says it is about.
- Link organically and reciprocally — Paid linkers always get caught. Spend some time every day telling people with related sites about your site, how you can help your visitors, and how you can help each other. Offer to put a link on their site if they put one on theirs.
- You design your site for visitors, not search engines. — It may sound strange, but any deceptive SEO technique will eventually get rid of it. If you use sneaky SEO tactics, you will have to constantly create or pay for links, but if you create a good quality website, the links will start to appear on their own, without you having to reciprocate.
After all, having good will and a respected presence on the Internet is something that cannot be bought or stolen, and the
onlytype of visitor you want is the visitor who wants to be on your site. Remember that a college student telling their friends about your website is worth a lot more than hundreds of paid links or thousands of pages of keyword-rich articles and little content. By all means, make your website more visible, but don’t make the Internet more frustrating and expensive for the rest of us.
