Working Smart: Making the Right Choices with an Ethical SEO Agency
First published August 1, 2023. Revised February 24, 2024.
In the vast world of digital marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) has become an integral part of any successful online business strategy, and an ethical SEO agency has the advantage of consistently using best practices as search engine guidelines reinforce ethics. It's a win/win for search engines and businesses who want to practice what they preach in ethical systems and processes.
But a website builder can easily get lost amid the various tools for improving their search engine rankings.
I have NINE (!) webpages saved in my "keyword research" folder and often stumble down the rabbit hole myself.
Whatever tool or collection of tools you find, there’s a few key principles to keep in mind as you develop your marketing strategy to make sure your content marketing is easy, effective, and ethical. Here's a few tips from one ethical SEO consultant to you --
But a website builder can easily get lost amid the various tools for improving their search engine rankings.
I have NINE (!) webpages saved in my "keyword research" folder and often stumble down the rabbit hole myself.
Whatever tool or collection of tools you find, there’s a few key principles to keep in mind as you develop your marketing strategy to make sure your content marketing is easy, effective, and ethical. Here's a few tips from one ethical SEO consultant to you --
#1: Ethical Search Engine Optimization Skips Guesswork
If you're somewhat familiar with search ranking already, you'll know you have to do things like research keywords and have good links.
But how to choose the right words can be a mystery.
A lot of SEO writers do their best, but they really only throw words into the ether and hope Google can figure it out.
Make sure that your strategy eliminates guesswork. If you can’t quantify it, you can’t evaluate it, and guesswork won’t serve your business well. And it can lead to bad SEO techniques like keyword stuffing.
Among ethical SEO services, good keyword tools are the pillars of success. A worthwhile keyword planner tool allows writers to conduct effective keyword research, identifying the most relevant search terms people may use. By incorporating these keywords into your web content, internal link strategy, meta descriptions, anchor text, and alt text for images, you can create a strong SEO strategy that attracts your target audience and boosts your website's visibility in search results.
But wait, there's more.
SEO is more than keyword research – and ethical SEO service is going to do more, too.
You need to track competitors and your website’s domain authority.
These criteria allow nonprofit leaders and business owners to track the visibility of their websites on search engines, gain insights into their site visitors' behavior, and ensure their website appears on Google Maps.
And only if you can track it accurately can you do your best work.
But how to choose the right words can be a mystery.
A lot of SEO writers do their best, but they really only throw words into the ether and hope Google can figure it out.
Make sure that your strategy eliminates guesswork. If you can’t quantify it, you can’t evaluate it, and guesswork won’t serve your business well. And it can lead to bad SEO techniques like keyword stuffing.
Among ethical SEO services, good keyword tools are the pillars of success. A worthwhile keyword planner tool allows writers to conduct effective keyword research, identifying the most relevant search terms people may use. By incorporating these keywords into your web content, internal link strategy, meta descriptions, anchor text, and alt text for images, you can create a strong SEO strategy that attracts your target audience and boosts your website's visibility in search results.
But wait, there's more.
SEO is more than keyword research – and ethical SEO service is going to do more, too.
You need to track competitors and your website’s domain authority.
These criteria allow nonprofit leaders and business owners to track the visibility of their websites on search engines, gain insights into their site visitors' behavior, and ensure their website appears on Google Maps.
And only if you can track it accurately can you do your best work.
#2: Smart, Ethical SEO Services Can Be Streamlined
Everybody is trying to sell you something (even a church website. Your parishioners are looking for a donate button!).
When it comes to SEO strategy, every ethical SEO company has their favorite website builder, and their way to rank in search engines, and their 10 things you can't miss on a web page.
Each of those favorite ways comes with a tool, and good luck keeping track of whether the page title and the title tag are uploaded right. And what exactly is an xml sitemap? You want good website design, but do you need to know how to code to build your website?
Take a deep breath. Don't worry. And don't go sign up for all 32 of the best things ever for SEO practice (according to Hubspot). That's a lot of things.
An ethical SEO consulting agency will handle the bulk of the heavy lifting for you: writing posts in your brand voice, understanding the data, and keeping your web design in good order.
You can balance different roles or hand it all over.
I’ll be honest: unless you have staff for marketing, the best choice for ethical search engine optimization is to outsource it.
Why?
Because the work on optimization can never truly end in a landscape that changes -- your competitors grow, accessibility standards rise, the search engine algorithm changes.
There’s wisdom in investing in an ethical SEO agency for your website (and making sure your supporting search engine marketing agency is wearing a white hat…)
When it comes to SEO strategy, every ethical SEO company has their favorite website builder, and their way to rank in search engines, and their 10 things you can't miss on a web page.
Each of those favorite ways comes with a tool, and good luck keeping track of whether the page title and the title tag are uploaded right. And what exactly is an xml sitemap? You want good website design, but do you need to know how to code to build your website?
Take a deep breath. Don't worry. And don't go sign up for all 32 of the best things ever for SEO practice (according to Hubspot). That's a lot of things.
An ethical SEO consulting agency will handle the bulk of the heavy lifting for you: writing posts in your brand voice, understanding the data, and keeping your web design in good order.
You can balance different roles or hand it all over.
I’ll be honest: unless you have staff for marketing, the best choice for ethical search engine optimization is to outsource it.
Why?
Because the work on optimization can never truly end in a landscape that changes -- your competitors grow, accessibility standards rise, the search engine algorithm changes.
There’s wisdom in investing in an ethical SEO agency for your website (and making sure your supporting search engine marketing agency is wearing a white hat…)
#3: ETHICAL SEO CONSULTANTS WEAR WHITE HATS
A good SEO consultant runs audits of your website and performs tasks to improve it, such as if you need title tags, a better image size, link building, or other large or small SEO services.
What a time saver to rely on someone else!
But you’ll have to confirm that none of it is black hat SEO -- which means the recommended actions are all considered legitimate and ethical by Google and other search engines.
The areas that can be particularly tricky are increasing domain authority and link building. Black hat tactics can dominate here -- especially at a "bargain price" SEO company.
Back in the day, people would host backlinks in a way that was not particularly ethical or even useful. They were essentially link farms with no connection to an actual search term.
Is it a backlink? Technically, yes.
Does it demonstrate your business' E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness), Google's current guideline for improving rankings? No.
Talk about bad user experience if you somehow ended up on one.
Thankfully, those black hat tricks are penalized by Google and backlinks are rewarded when they build actual relationships and useful content, such as writing a guest post or being featured as a subject matter expert (SME) on another site. (In the Chamber of Commerce, for example? Think about boosting local SEO results!)
So it’s very important – whether you do your own search engine optimization or hire an expert – to take the time to do it right. A link building strategy might be the key to growing faster, but only if the link building follows best practice. Your page could get flagged thanks to the work of budget SEO consulting services who promise links, no matter the means.
What a time saver to rely on someone else!
But you’ll have to confirm that none of it is black hat SEO -- which means the recommended actions are all considered legitimate and ethical by Google and other search engines.
The areas that can be particularly tricky are increasing domain authority and link building. Black hat tactics can dominate here -- especially at a "bargain price" SEO company.
Back in the day, people would host backlinks in a way that was not particularly ethical or even useful. They were essentially link farms with no connection to an actual search term.
Is it a backlink? Technically, yes.
Does it demonstrate your business' E-E-A-T (experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness), Google's current guideline for improving rankings? No.
Talk about bad user experience if you somehow ended up on one.
Thankfully, those black hat tricks are penalized by Google and backlinks are rewarded when they build actual relationships and useful content, such as writing a guest post or being featured as a subject matter expert (SME) on another site. (In the Chamber of Commerce, for example? Think about boosting local SEO results!)
So it’s very important – whether you do your own search engine optimization or hire an expert – to take the time to do it right. A link building strategy might be the key to growing faster, but only if the link building follows best practice. Your page could get flagged thanks to the work of budget SEO consulting services who promise links, no matter the means.
ALL-IN-ONE ETHICAL SEO PACKAGEs are AVAILABLE TODAY
It is completely possible to do long term search engine optimization through hard work on your own with keywords, blog posts, and a backlink strategy. There's even a resource on auditing your SEO and where things stand that you can do right now!
But if playing business owner, site owner, and ethical SEO company feels overwhelming, there's another way.
Find someone who cares as much about doing the right thing for your customer and your brand. If you don't have any idea where to start, I invite you to ask about my SEO service. We can have a quick conversation and see if an SEO package would work for you. White hat techniques only.
But if playing business owner, site owner, and ethical SEO company feels overwhelming, there's another way.
Find someone who cares as much about doing the right thing for your customer and your brand. If you don't have any idea where to start, I invite you to ask about my SEO service. We can have a quick conversation and see if an SEO package would work for you. White hat techniques only.
Interested in more? Subscribe to my newsletter with the form below for monthly strategic tips and special announcements.