by Writing Gal.

Created on: August 01, 2010

When search engines were first implemented, there were no ethical standards put into place. Website owners had the opportunity to become well known and do whatever they could to generate traffic to their site. Because there were practically no professional codes of conduct set, many owners used unethical marketing techniques. They created faulty key words to grab the searcher and interest them into their site. Many times, searchers were tricked into signing up for e-mail newsletters, having spam pop-ups, or clicking on false ads. Search engines have now began to detect, penalize, and delete these sites from their search results.

The main goal of websites using unethical search marketing, is to be on the first page of search results. To do this, the site's keywords must match the keywords typed in by the searcher, be the most relevant, and generate more traffic than other sites. Due to these rules, websites have placed keywords onto their site that are not visible to the user. They do this by changing the font of the word to match the background. This allows a website that is advertising their antivirus software, to be a result in a search query for clothing. This way, they generate traffic to their site and improve their chances of being on the first page of search results.

Internet users are starting to identify a good website versus a marketing scheme that has been pasted all over the internet. Because of this, site owners are noticing the downfall in traffic to their website and are looking into more ethical marketers. Although companies that focus on ethical search engine optimization (SEO) cost more for the implementation of links, content pages, and traffic, the worth far exceeds that which is achieved through unethical procedures.

The goal of ethical search marking is to reach the consumer through related and exact SEO to increase traffic generated by search engines and by making sure advertisement links are placed in appropriate areas. Any ad that is misleading or faulty is not considered ethical. It is important to ensure that the keywords, placed on the site, refer to exactly what it has to offer.

The lack of unethical search marketing has forced website owners to do everything in their power to beat the competition. To succeed, they must have high quality, attractive websites with good prices, content, and descriptions of their products or services. This is similar to real world shopping. A consumer is more likely to purchase a product or service that they know is high quality, has a realistic price, and has a good reputation. The competition on the internet is considered to be more competitive, for it is easier to click another website than to travel to another store. 

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