SEO Ethics

What is the best definition?

[stuntdubl]

I am doing a research paper on SEO ethics.

Does anyone have any good articles, comments, posts, etc. on the topic?

How would you define SEO ethics in three sentences or less?

[heini]

Ethics is a personal choice.

The louder the talk about ethics gets the bigger is the hypocrisy involved.

[pageoneresults]

I'll agree with heini.

There is a set of core ethics that all businesses follow and that applies to SEO too. I always look at it this way. If it feels wrong, then it probably is wrong. If you've got to ask yourself if this is the right thing to do, then it probably isn't the right thing.

Once you get past the core ethics, the rest of it is an extremely gray area. Not all operate under the same ethics. As heini points out, it is a personal choice. Just make the right choice. Do the right thing.

[stuntdubl]

I agree with you both, and I believe that SEO ethics are indeed an overhyped way to sell more SEO services, but at the same time I do have to write a paper;)

I am a MIS major, and had to write an entire 30 paper paper on ethics (ick)......only a few pages are dedicated to SEO ethics, but I was just curious if anyone had found any good resources/ discussions on the topic.

[homegirl]

Upshot: In the business world, it strikes me that people aren't given a reason to care about ethics unless you can show a direct link to how this could undermine profit. However, there are worlds outside the business world, and so while I think it's not as meaningful to discuss ethics in the context of how it's been used mostly in SEO (mostly marketing hype and a little self-righteous sometimes), for the most part I can't recommend many of the "black" techniques to my clients because we're building for the long term and most "black" stuff is short-sighted and needs to be changed, and re-visited often.

Just sticky'd you a possible resource online. Keep us posted on what you conclude! :-)

[Skylo]

Hmmmmm 3 sentences or less.....
SEO ethics: Adhereing to universally understood but not universally agreed set of ways to ensure high listings in Serps, Insuring Higher traffic and better profit. Using keywords, title, headers etc. to create a clean website that would not harm visitors or other webmasters.

I don't know just thought I would give your question a shot:)