In the world of search engine optimisation, Spam is an awful word. It conjures up images of virus sites and bogus methods of SEO which are going to affect your page rankings, spread viruses and get you eliminated from the world of search engines forever more. There are of course many a spam site which are intended to be bad and will cause damage to both your online reputation and your ranking within SERP’s, however to avoid all spam altogether has been deemed a little over the top by some SEO experts, with some even claiming that we need some degree of ‘spam’ in order for websites to survive in such a competitive world.
In case you are feeling a little confused over what we are considering spam, most people are actually talking about any form of unethical search marketing. At SearchEngineOptimisation.co.uk we are huge fans of ethical web optimisation and consider organic search to be the best way forward. Having said that, there are some partially valid arguments for some forms of so called unethical methods, and we must stress the word ‘some’.
The theory behind this is that to brand some methods unethical is a little bit harsh. It is like branding two people hardened criminals when one is a brutal murderer and one just got a parking fine. The reality is that the word unethical refers to actually deceiving somebody and basically not following approved business or social standards. When we apply this to web optimisation, we can see how blatant cloaking could be seen as unethical because you are literally promising the user one topic and redirecting them to a completely unrelated site, on purpose. This example is fairly easy to understand and is without a shadow of a doubt, an unethical method.
One major area which is deemed as ‘unethical’ or a spam method is hidden text. This is a bit of a grey area, however in some instances there is actually a point behind hidden text, even though the application of it is not right. Take an example of a website which has some content or words which are truly relevant to their website and the nature of their business. The problem is that there is not really any need for these words or phrases to be seen by the user, as they are perhaps a little repetitive or are more technical and not really fitting with the natural content approach you are trying to achieve. That being said, you cannot exclude them as they are crucial in terms of communicating with the SERP’s. In this instance, having the text there is important, but it must not be hidden. Using tabs or a scroller to place this text is an ethical way of ensuring it stays on the page but doesn’t have a negative impact on user experience.
The majority of companies will still avoid anything deemed as spam or unethical altogether, and rightly so. However, there have been instances when ethical search specialist simply cannot contend with the competition and have turned to other companies who will use alternative methods to get the results they desire. The trick is really to use your brain. If it is purposefully deceitful then avoid it at all costs, and if you are not sure, ask a reputable and ethical SEO company for their advice.
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Posted by Nick.
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