SEO ( Search Engine Optimisation) Code of Ethics
“Whereas all parties are working towards presenting
relevant and high quality information in an easy to use
format to information seekers, and whereas SEO practitioners
are being contracted to assist clients in obtaining higher
rankings for client pages, we (and those linking to this
page) are voluntarily adhering to the below SEO Code of
Ethics:
No SEO practitioner will intentionally do harm to
a client. This involves the continued use of any technology
or procedure (without appropriate care) that is known
to result in having the client site removed from search
engine indexes or directories, or rendered inoperative.
Questionable adherence to standards must be addressed
via the Robots Exclusion Standard.
No SEO practitioner will intentionally violate any
specifically published and enforced rules of search engines
or directories. Should rules and guidelines change
(as they often do), the SEO practitioner will promptly
take action to comply with the changes as they apply to
all clients. Where rules and guidelines are unclear, the
SEO practitioner will seek clarification and await approval
from the appropriate search engine before continuing to
utilize potentially harmful technology or procedures.
No SEO practitioner will intentionally mislead, harm,
or offend a consumer. All individuals utilizing a
search engine to visit a site will not be misled by the
information presented to or by the search engine, or harmed
or offended upon arrival at the client site. This includes
techniques like "bait and switch" where the
client page does not substantially contain and is not
clearly associated with the optimized phrase, or may be
reasonably offensive to targeted visitors.
No SEO practitioner will intentionally violate any
laws. This involves the deliberate and continued violation
of copyright, trademark, servicemark, or laws related
to spamming as they may exist at the state, federal, or
international level.
No SEO practitioner will falsely represent the content
of the client site. This includes the practice of
presenting different versions of web pages to different
users except where that information is altered solely
to meet browser specifications and needs, sensitivity
to regional factors such as language, or product specific
needs. In general, ALL requests for a specific URL should
be served identical HTML by the web server.
No SEO practitioner will falsely represent others
work as their own. This includes the taking of work
from others in whole or in part and representing this
work as their own. The SEO practitioner may not make verbatim
copies of the work of others (instead of authoring original
work) without the prior consent of the other party.
No SEO practitioner will misrepresent their own abilities,
education, training, standards of performance, certifications,
trade group affiliations, technical inventory, or experiences
to others. This includes quantifiable statements related
to project timetables, performance history, company resources
(staff, equipment, and proprietary products), and client
lists. Guarantees will be restricted to items over which
the SEO practitioner has significant and reasonable control.
No SEO practitioner will participate in a conflict
of interest without prior notice to all parties involved.
This includes the practice of choosing to emphasize one
client over another in competing keywords because there
is more personal gain for the practitioner. All clients
are treated equally and all will receive equal best effort
in their Search Engine Optimization.
No SEO practitioner will set unreasonable client expectations.
This includes the practice of accepting more than a reasonable
number of clients competing for the same keywords and
implying that all will be in the top positions in the
search engines. This also includes the implication that
results can be obtained in an unreasonable amount of time
given the known condition of the search engines, client
site, and competition.
All SEO practitioners will offer their clients both
internal and external dispute resolution procedures.
This includes the publishing of address and phone numbers
on primary web pages, the inclusion of third-party dispute
resolution links prominently placed within the practitioners
web site, and contracts that include sections discussing
dispute resolution.
All SEO practitioners will protect the confidentiality
and anonymity of their clients with regards to privileged
information and items implying testimonial support for
the SEO practitioner. All staff of SEO practitioner
shall be bound to protect information that is not generally
known as it may harm the client. The SEO practitioner
will not include the publishing of testimonials and proprietary
logos of client lists, press releases, and other collateral
discussing the client without explicit approvals.”
Michelle Giguère - InternetPro |