I don’t want to repeat everything I wrote at SEO Theory in “SEMPO Calls for SEO Code of Ethics – So What Is Ethical?” but I do want to talk about the problem of defining ethics for a worldwide industry. Ethics are supposed to guide the moral behavior of a group. But just who exactly decides what is moral?
Search engine optimization as a label has been plastered across many different types of practices, such link building, content marketing, and article spinning. Conceptually all of these identifications have been justified by people who see some measure of success in building more search referral traffic for their sites through use of these methods. Hence, they must be practicing search engine optimization, right?
The definition of search engine optimization is not really important, though. People will call whatever they do SEO and they will base their definitions on their own personal experiences. And that is really what brings us all into the same conversation: similar personal experiences. You’re not an SEO because you match some industry-established criteria in your marketing practices. You’re an SEO because you think you are. There is no one really to say otherwise (except in an argumentative fashion). And we are in this open, untamed state of mind because there are no industry standards.
[SKIPPING THE STANDARDS DISCUSSION]
So here we are in 2014 and the Search Engine Marketing Professionals Organization is calling for the organization of yet another group of people to draft a “Code of Ethics” for everyone who (I guess) wants to feel bound by such a code. How such a body will graft this code onto professional marketing practices remains to be seen. I suspect it will begin with some outreach to the news media. SEMPO may support the group through its own internal communications with its membership (said to be in the thousands).
There is no weight of law to impose this code of ethics on everyone to whom it is supposed to apply (North American SEOs, according to the press release announcing the formation of the Search Congress). This proposed North American Search Engine Marketing Code of Ethics will require all sorts of buy-in from people who are affected by it; unfortunately the call for volunteers to form the organization excludes the majority of people for whom the code is intended. That’s a very bad warning sign.
But let’s assume that the initial organization of the group leads to a more open charter and virtually anyone will be able to provide input into the proposed code of ethics. That still won’t make it a universally acceptable document. It will either have to be very vague or the organizers will have to invite, encourage, and facilitate all sorts of discussion outside of their groups and organizations. Individuals who have not joined these groups should not be shunted aside through implied classifications or stratifications of the search marketing industry. Such bigotry would mislead the general public into thinking that only select members of the organization are behaving ethically (which would be a highly unethical thing to do).
Ethics is a Very Hard Discussion to Have
There are many people in the search marketing field who believe they act ethically. Their behavior is nonetheless offensive to other people because of their selfishness, their lack of professionalism, and their rationalizations for what they do. You could include nearly everyone in that description from agencies to independent bloggers who are just trying to grab some link attention they want to channel to their affiliate Websites. You are more than likely doing something that someone else objects to, and not just because we have no standards. It is because the discussion of ethics has been dragged out for way too long. And SEMPO has chosen a course that may not be the best path.
This proposed Search Congress is being organized through PubCon, surely as a matter of convenience since people will be converging on the popular conference. But why PubCon? Why not Search Strategies or SMX? Will everyone who has an interest in ethics be at PubCon? The selection of venue will undoubtedly prequalify many applicants.
And then one must ask why SEMPO’s board has decided to offload the task of proposing a code of ethics to someone else. After all, they are supposed to be the largest most-inclusive body of professional online marketers in the world. And yet the organization itself lacks a code of ethics. SEMPO specifically excludes itself from any form of enforcement or codification of standards and best practices; and yet they are organizing an ethics body. That’s all very odd, in my book.
It will come down to the organizers’ sense of responsibility to make provisions for input from across the field. How they handle that discussion will reflect thoroughly upon the quality and credibility of their proposal for a code of ethics.
A Code of Ethics Must Be Enforced
There is no point to having a code of ethics if there is no enforcement. Does this proposal lead to something like a national licensing body? What about a requirement for membership in yet another professional organization? If we’re to have an ethics code there must be some consequence for violating that code. Getting all the popular blogs to publicly shame someone would be tantamount to a smear campaign — a highly unethical practice.
Will this new body issue periodic proscriptions that warn the general public against doing business with certain individuals and companies? I think not, as that could lead to all sorts of legal battles.
Will they propose to ban people from attending conferences, participating in courses, and otherwise blackballing people? Such a practice would be reprehensible since people would be terrorized into joining forces with the advocates of a code of ethics they might otherwise ignore.
I doubt the code could be enforced by any legal means such as filing complaints with local authorities. States’ attorneys general do investigate complaints made by consumers against businesses. An ethics body might facilitate or endorse such complaints through an investigative process. But, again, why should such a code be used as a basis for complaints if there is no buy-in from the people the code is being applied to?
To be effective there must be some form of enforcement, but the enforcement cannot be a tyrannically imposed “do this or else” measure.
The Public Must Be Properly Educated
I have often called for the formation and adoption of industry standards because standards would be the only way that the general public could judge the quality and accountability of the work that we do as SEO providers.
Standards would also serve to improve due diligence practices when Websites are bought and sold. To some extent these matters can be handled by a code of ethics but unless it declares itself to be an authoritative source of standards it will be a code with no real value.
Hence, what is to be served to the public? An empty statement that won’t really apply to any really bad situations? I doubt anyone will settle for that.
So we must ask what message is going to be conveyed to the public. Will anyone start talking about ethics before we have a complete document? That kind of pre-emptive expectation setting raises the stakes in several ways.
First, it would imply that everyone can hold any self-declared practitioner of SEO (in North America) liable to respecting the proposed code. That would be misleading.
Second, it would pre-empt and possible close out public awareness of dissent. The public SHOULD know if there are people who object to the provisions of the code of ethics, and they should be informed in such a way so as to minimally bias public opinion either for supporters of the code or against dissidents.
Third, it makes a promise that — if not kept — means that all future talk of ethics (and standards) will be taken less seriously. It’s not that you only get one shot at this; rather, each failure makes successive attempts more likely to fail.
SEMPO needs to be a Great Facilitator in this process to ensure that the message delivered to the public is fair, balanced, and all-encompassing.
Finally, the Search Congress should refrain from claiming any authority until some authority has been bestowed upon it. And this is something that nags at the back of my mind. Will this ethics body apply with some government agency to be recognized as an industry-leading body? I really don’t want law-makers (or judges) to be influenced by a non-representative body.
I can see the wrong kind of experts coming out of an initiative like this, people who will be paid to act as witness in civil and perhaps criminal trials, spreading the code as if everyone were bound by it, and they would be completely credible even if wholly false.
So we should all be watching this initiative carefully. I reserve the right to opt out if I don’t like what I see. Furthermore, I will challenge any attempt to impose a standard of behavior upon me that I disagree with.
Or Maybe This Is All Just a Bad Dream …
Frankly, most of the codes of ethics I have read through the years have been written in rather vague, bland language that purports to say something clear and distinct and yet which says nothing that can keep my attention.
If SEMPO’s goal is to get some people together to write up a 1-page list of bland “we shall strive to ensure the purest form of professional adherence and dedication to compatible and friendly procedures that do not offend anyone [blah blah blah]” then I would just want to shoot myself. That would be such a head slap.
Seriously, we don’t need any vague, impossible-to-violate “code of ethics”. Whatever comes out of this initiative should have some teeth, if only to spur debate and get people to wake up and realize that, yes, there IS a lot of bad behavior going on.
Marketers turn a blind eye to most bad behavior except when it crosses their paths. So I rather expect this call for a code of ethics to produce nothing significant. If it at least calls for SEO tools to comply with “robots.txt” that would be something, but I have set some low expectations for myself nonetheless.
I spelled out what I would like to see in the code on SEO Theory. I doubt much if any of those suggestions would be adopted. But as long as the product of this project is vague and inoffensive, so that we can all safely ignore it, then that will just be time wasted. Whatever happens, I will appreciate not having to stake any more ground in a philosophical debate than I have so far. Until people get serious about putting together some real standards, I’d rather not wake up to a small police state of wacky definitions and insensible professional goals.
You may also want to read .@sempoglobal Calls for SEO Code of Ethics – So What Is Ethical? on the SEO Theory Blog.
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