Ethics and professional intimacy within the search engine optimisation (SEO) industry

Abstract

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of increasing a digital profile’s visibility within a search engine for relevant search engine results pages. SEO is playing a critical role within the digital marketing and communication strategies of many organizations globally. Particularly in the UK, digital marketing budgets have continued to rise in the last decade, despite the economic uncertainties. With the increase of spending in SEO related activities, a number of businesses focusing on SEO services have emerged, offering SEO services with unfounded promises. The SEO services are not regulated and do not have recognized ethical standards. Key influences such as a lack of professional intimacy and the velocity of market change are considered, as well as the possibility that the SEO community is becoming divided in its own understanding of what it fundamentally is. Dilution of industry specialism, through a continual attempt at self-preservation and cannibalization of other methods of online communication, is leaving not only SEO practitioners vulnerable, but also the very clients and consumers they are hired to serve. This raises a clear ethical issue that requires further exploration.