SEO Ethics: Which Hat To Wear - Webmaster goals and SEO practices
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Every website owner has different goals for the site and for its future. Some webmasters are in the business for the long term, with the intention of building search engine rankings that will have staying power. The desire to build a reputable site, using only best practices optimization techniques is one such long term plan.
Other webmasters want to remain in the search placements for the longer term, but are far less concerned about the techniques used to achieve those rankings. Thinking that most sites slide through the various spam filters anyway, there is little concern about penalties or outright bans from the search engines. In fact, many webmasters are blissfully unaware that some optimization techniques are not acceptable to the search engine guidelines.
Still other website owners have no concern at all about the long term implications of their website. To those webmasters, any technique that raises their rankings is fine with them. If the black hat methods get the site penalized or banned, then a new domain name is acquired and the process starts all over again. In many cases, the abandonment of the banned site is even part of the planning involved.
Many SEOs believe their first responsibility is to their webmaster client. What the client wants is what gets done, in the way of optimization techniques. This theory is based on "what the customer wants, the customer gets." In such cases, however, it’s also important for the SEO to provide complete information, as to the potential consequences of using methods counter the published search engine guidelines.
Failing to inform the client of the potential negatives of a grey or black hat practice is not acting in anyone’s best interests. In fact, a lack of full disclosure of possible filters, penalties, and outright banning as a result of proscribed actions is not acting in the interest of the client. Many website owners are completely new to optimization, and some are entirely unaware that SEO even exists as a profession. To not fully inform newcomers to SEO of every side of the issue does not give the client complete information on which to base a reasoned decision as to the potential risks involved.
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