The subject of ethical search engine optimization has become an important topic in the SEO industry. But, what does it mean? How can you choose an ethical SEO company?

Let us begin by answering the question: What is ethical seo? In its most basic form Ethical SEO means that a company practices "white hat" seo tactics in accordance to the guidelines set by the major search engines and directories: Google, Yahoo and MSN. It also means the company conducts business in an ethical manner. There are several codes of ethics floating around the internet. We have our own code of ethics, as do other firms. Ours are listed below.

How do choose an ethical SEO company and know if they practice what they preach? Start by following these three simple steps.

1) Verify professional third party membership displayed on the Firm's site. The first place to start is the prospective firm's web site. If a web site is ethical in it's business practice, they should have various memberships of professional organizations they belong to listed on their website such as The Better Business Bureau, Yahoo Ambassador* and / or Google Professional* logos. Each of these companies has criteria the SEO Company must comply with before being allowed to display the third party logos on their site. When the firms display third party logo's on their site, the logos should link directly to the respective 3rd party website for verification. Be sure to look at the landing page URL and verify that it is actually the same domain as it is suppose to be. If you are going to spend in excess of $10,000 with any firm you may want to conduct a background check on the company's business identity, owners, and or search the web for their names and see what shows up. Search terms like "Firm Name Lawsuit" or 'Person name lawsuit." You might also want to run a Dunn and Bradstreet report on the firm for any financial news related to the company.

*Not all companies are listed with Dunn and Bradstreet.

*Yahoo Ambassador and Google Professional logos relate to the PPC programs each company offers and are not a indicator of a company's search engine optimization skill. However, if a company is a member of one or both the Yahoo and Google PPC certification programs it indicates they have undergone testing and have been HUMAN reviewed, verified and approved by Yahoo and Google.

*Note: Bigger is not always better. A dedicated boutique firm that gives you personal attention may be better than a large company with great brand exposure, but poor results for clients.

2) Check the company's references. We have known companies to make FALSE or misleading claims about their success. If they practice ethical SEO they should have five to ten examples of client websites that rank well for broad terms, not just granular terms. What are broad terms? Broad terms are keyword phrases that have one to three keywords in them. Granular terms are phrases that have four or above words in them. Generally speaking it's easier to get top ranking for "Granular" terms than broad terms.

Note: Do NOT accept a "report" of client rankings as proof. Check LIVE search results in the respective engines for LIVE rankings. Anyone can fabricate a nice looking report, but NO ONE can fake live results in the search engines. Be sure you are looking at ORGANIC results and NOT sponsored results.

Note: On the subject of easy rankings, it's usually easier to get top rankings in MSN than Yahoo and Google. Serr.biz targets Google as the rest will follow.

In addition to checking a firm's success with keywords, check their business references. There are a couple ways to do this.

1. Visit the company's client website. Often the SEO Company will have a link back to themselves in the footer of the client's website. Of course, this is NOT always the case as the client may not want to publicly display that they use an outside firm for their online marketing. 2. In addition to looking for a back link, ask for a contact name and number of the company's client. Any ethical SEO company will provide a HUMAN reference that you can speak to, so long as you are not a direct competitor of the client. If you are a direct competitor, the SEO Company should have other references you can check.

On the note of competition, it is not un-ethical to promote competitor sites simultaneously, so long as the company discloses this information to all parties involved. If you require exclusivity, be sure to stipulate that in your contract. At Serr.biz we always give our clients the right of first refusal, which saves them money until exclusivity is required because of a competitor requests for services.

3) Check the back links and architecture of the company website and client sites for the following elements.

1. Proper use of title and meta tags. (They should be using these elements, but not excessively.)

2. On page keyword stuffing. Does the page read well from a human point of view?

3. Back links. Does the company or client site have excessive back links from irrelevant sites?

Of course, there is much more involved with being and practicing ethical SEO, but if you follow the three simple steps above, you should be safe in selecting a company to work with.