Netpointers Code of Ethics

Code of Ethics

In line with the increase in the number of SEO companies throughout the last 4-5 years, the number of optimization techniques and methodologies has risen. While some of these techniques can be effective, many of them are dangerous to employ in that one risks spamming the search engines with the result that one is then blacklisted in their database. Once you’ve been blocked by a search engine’s database, it can take up to several years to restore the search engines confidence in your organisation.

Serious SEO companies have established a code of ethics that work in accordance with the conditions set by the search engines.

As Europe’s largest SEO company, Netpointers has clear guidelines with regards to dealing with search engines. This is where you can read about which techniques the search engines consider to be spam as well as Netpointers code of ethics.

SPAM!
If you utilize one or more of these techniques, the search engines will consider it to be an attempt to spam them, and if it is discovered you will risk your website being blacklisted instantaneously.

You SPAM If you:

• Market keywords and/or keyword phrases that bear no relation to your website.
• Register your website with the search engines too frequently.
• Use the same text color as background color.
• Steal other’s web pages.
• Use cloaking.
• Repeat search words many times on the same page.
• Use another company’s trademark in any keyword metatags.
• Feature another company’s trademark in hidden locations on your website.
• Use too little text.
• Register automatically with the search engine.

Netpointers recognize:

1. That search engine optimization agencies play an important role in the quality and quantity of information being submitted to the search engines.
2. That these agencies occupy the ideal position to help educate website owners and promoters about ethical search engine promotion strategies.
3. That these agencies occupy "gatekeeper" positions where adherence to a code of ethics is enforceable.

Netpointers hereby voluntarily agree to adhere to the following search engine promotion code of ethics.

PROVISIONS:

1. Search engine optimization agencies shall be mindful of the bandwidth and processing burdens imposed on search engines by page submission activities and shall work to minimize these burdens by ensuring that pages are not frivolously and repeatedly submitted.
2. No search engine optimization agency shall claim to submit to more search engines than actually exist. Specifically, submissions to free–for–all pages shall not be considered to be submissions to "search engines”. Only searchable directories or indexes containing information on more than one million URLs shall be considered genuine search engines.
3. Relevant keywords: Clients shall be restricted to the use of keywords that are clearly relevant to their content, products or services. Non-relevant keyword choice will be disallowed.
4. No keyword repetition: No page submitted to the search engines shall use blatant keyword repetition. Keywords must be present as an integral part of the page content (i.e. keywords may be used in sentences, paragraphs or headings).
5. No invisible text: No page submitted to the search engines shall use invisible or near-invisible text in an effort to implant keywords into the HTML source code that are not visible to the reader.
6. The same URL shall not be submitted to any search engine more than once in a 30–day period.
7. No URLs from any domain shall be submitted to any search engine unless each URL can be shown to be unique and relevant.
8. In keeping with the above, each web page submitted to the search engines must contain unique content.
9. No blatant domain mirroring. Each domain submitted to the search engines must contain unique content. Two exceptions: where a secondary domain is established and operated as a pre-emptive move to prevent client competitors from occupying a variation of the original domain name; or where a secondary domain is used to legitimately highlight a focused subset of information also available somewhere on the main domain.
10. Intellectual property: No search engine service may promote or submit pages that seek to attract traffic using company names or other trademarked terms that do not belong to the client.
11. This code of ethics imposes no limitations on the content matter submitted to search engines. "Content" is a free–speech issue and outside the domain of search engine promotion techniques.
12. No search engine optimization agency shall knowingly promote or cooperate with any person or company that attempts to breach these code of ethics provisions.

13. Policing of fully–automated web scripts: In order to enforce the provisions listed here, fully automated submitting services or software applications shall integrate self-policing technologies that:
    

    A. Do not allow the submission of multiple pages from a single domain that are not unique and relevant within a one–year period.
    

    B. Do not allow the repeated submission of the same URL more than once every 30 days.
    

    C. Educate the end-user about the problem of search engine spamming and the importance of submitting fewer high-quality pages rather than a larger volume of low-quality pages.
    

    D. Encourage end-users to be patient and wait at least 30 days to see if their pages have been indexed before re-submitting.