Draft Thus Far

We live in an age of great technological advances. The advent and evolution of
the internet has given us a vast world of information right in our pockets. All we have to
do is go to Google, or another large search engine, and type in a few key words in order
to find anything we desire. Small business owners have been given a time to truly shine
in the digital age. With social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter, smaller
businesses are able to directly connect with their customers in order to create
relationships between them. Other sites, like Yelp and Urbanspoon, allow diners to rate
and comment on restaurants they have visited in order to laud or admonish these
establishments to others. Why, then, does it seem that more often than not our search
engine results are centered around the largest companies and biggest names in
business? With so much out there for us to discover, it can become slightly difficult to
figure out how and why we are getting the results that appear before us. Sometimes we
may even find that results are completely off-base, with absolutely no real connection to
what we were searching for. Part of the reason for this is Search Engine Optimization
(also known as SEO). Search Engine Optimization is the practice of generating text-
based web content that utilizes specific key phrases in order for a website to come up
higher on search engine results. While SEO may seem like a harmless practice by
definition, the broader reality may be a little less innocent. In an age where small
businesses should be able to thrive, it is interesting to examine how the ethics behind
SEO and similar practices might hinder the growth and development of small
businesses.
Something that should be noted right off the bat is that this field of research is
quite new. Very little information has been gathered on the topic of SEO as of this point,
and most of what does exists comes from non-traditional sources. One of the largest
sets of data in this paper comes from a Twitter forum where various individuals
commented on the ethics behind Search Engine Optimization. While the identities of
most of the participants, with the exception of the moderator, are completely
anonymous their opinions on the matter are still clear. The rest of the data seen in this
paper comes from an interview conducted with co-owners of a small restaurant and
their experiences with the internet in relation to their business.

Defining Terms

For the sake of clarity, here are some of the terms, phrases and websites that
will be discussed.

S.E.O. (or Search Engine Optimization) - is a process that allows websites to
come up higher on search engines. It encompasses a broad range of tactics, but the
one focused on here is the utilization of key phrases (which are determined by the
popularity of phrases searched for) in web content to allow the site to appear higher in
results.
S.E.M. (or Search Engine Marketing) - is an internet marketing tool that allows for
websites to come up higher in search results by means of (mainly) paid services. These
paid services include advertising, PPC (Pay Per Click), sponsored links and more.
Sometimes used as a broader term that also includes SEO techniques.
S.E.R.P. (or Search Engine Results Page) - this is the "end result" of SEO and SEM, it is the first page (or close to the first page) of results generated by search engines when a search is submitted. "Winning" SERP is a goal of many SEO and SEM marketers.
I.R. - (or Internet Regulation) - is the general term for regulating the internet. In this case it centers around the regulation of SEO, SEM and similar practices. It can also concern censorship, and other practices of hiding/revealing information, but this is not what will be focused on in this paper.
Google - the world’s most popular search engine. While there are many search
engines on the internet, this site is the primary focus for this paper due to its popularity
and accessibility.
Yelp - Yelp is a popular website where restaurants can be reviewed by guests.
Yelp’s content is generated by anyone who creates an account for the site and chooses
to write a review, but they also utilize various SEM practices which shall be discussed
later.


Literature Review

    As discussed above, there is very little information about this field of research readily available. The information that I have comes from a Twitter feed in which the topic of SEO/SEM ethics were placed on the table and many different individuals began to comment on them. From this data it becomes slightly apparent that many people involved in the creation and generation of SEO material find that ethics are a very important issue that is not being widely discussed. Many give their input in a straightforward way, though due to the nature of the data (a Twitter feed) the credibility cannot be fully established. Much of the information is also somewhat specific to the field, as many references are made to conferences and/or meetings that centered around SEO and SEM but the discourses held in these meetings are not made explicit through the text. What can be determined is that these opinions come from a place of some sort of knowledge of the business world, and specifically the peculiar practices in the age of the internet.
     The Twitter conversation was moderated by a man named David Harry (Twitter name: @theGypsy). The hashtag for this conversation was #SEOchat. Mr. Harry has over eight years of experience in the field of SEO, and he claims to have an idea of how SEO works. He also knows that there are some less-than-ethical practices that occur in this field and he raises those points to the conversation.