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Resources > Articles > Unethical SEO

Article ID: 002

"Unethical SEO"

November 2004

You'd like your business web site to rank on the major search engines? Employ a company that cheats search engines, and you run the risk of having your web site banned altogether.

It has come to our attention that there are an increasing number of companies in the UK that are offering "low cost search engine optimisation". As an ethical company, we are concerned about the implications of such services on SMEs.

Overview

As you will learn from our SEO process article, effective search engine optimisation is an involved, multilayered process that - if done well - can offer dramatic return on investment. There seems to be an increasing number of companies who purport to offer genuine SEO services, when in fact they are supplying what are known as "Gateway Pages".

For between £200 and £400, an unwitting business owner will purchase the following:

a "keyword enhanced" domain name
a small hosting space
1 poorly optimised gateway page, approximately 10 minutes work.

The idea of a Gateway Page is that the page is optimised in order to draw in search engine traffic. Customers then follow a link on that page to your business website. Unfortunately, with current search engine technology, Gateway Pages are proven to be a thoroughly ineffective means to generate traffic.

More worrying is the fact that, if a search engine discovers you are utilising a Gateway Page, or any other system designed to cheat, they will quite reasonably respond by penalising you (i.e. pushing you way down the ranking results) or banning your website altogether. This mean no more traffic via that website - ever.

The Sting

The hard sell tactics utilised by companies offering unethical SEO involve statements such as:

"We work alongside / in partnership with Major search engines"
"We can guarantee you a top ranking"
"We can guarantee you a massive increase in sales enquiries"

SMEs are particularly vulnerable to this type of sales tactic. Without internal marketing departments, and without access to the correct information, the proposed service can seem very attractive. There are currently no governing bodies or standards organisations to oversee the sale of such services.

Firm have investigated these claims and found them to be false. Search engines do not sell high positions, nor do they not offer high positions to partner companies' clients.* As you will see from our SEO process outline, it is of the utmost importance for the success of a search engine to offer quality, unbiased results for their customers - the people searching. We have spoken to a number of major search engines who have informed us that under no circumstances do they manipulate search results to directly benefit external companies.

You Get What You Pay For

A little common sense is all that is required. You cannot purchase a hoarding at Waterloo station for £50. Nor can you take out a full page ad in a Sunday broadsheet for £100. A television ad will cost considerably more than £200. And fully targeted SEO, driving potentially hundreds of actively buying customers to your website per week - probably worth considerably more than a few hundred pounds? Buyer beware.

So, if you are approached by companies offering this type of service, we strongly recommend you utilise common sense. Ask to see examples of their work - lots of examples - and proof that they achieved this ranking for the given website. Find out how well their own web site ranks. To have your web site banned from one of the major search engines may seriously undermine your eMarketing activities in the long term, and your new business generation via the web in the short and long term.

*With the exception of Pay Per Click services - Pay Per Click is typically sold via a bidding system similar to eBay. Pay Per Click is a form of guaranteed search engine positioning that can offer great benefit to businesses. To gain a better understanding of SEO, Pay per Click and what it's all about please read our SEO process outline.


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