Intro and Literature Review

To introduce my topic, which is centered around the ethics behind SEO and similar practices as well as their affect on small businesses, I plan on beginning with a basic overview of the topic. This will include the following:

- Defining of terms. Specifically SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and any other specifics I will need to cover.
- An explanation of websites discussed throughout the paper. This will include Google, Yelp, UrbanSpoon, Webstaurant and other sites I mention.
- An example of how small business owners can get hurt when they cannot find the results that they are looking for (Blender Ring example)

I will tie these together to get to my question, and then I will continue on in that fashion with explaining the literature I have used to understand my material.

Since the field I am writing about has gone largely under the radar, the literature available for my research was quite limited. Dr Chandler provided me with the following link, which has been quite helpful in my endeavor.

The link, which can be visited HERE, centers around a conversation held on Twitter by moderator David Harry. Mr. Harry has spent many years working on SEO as well as IR (Internet Regulation) and has a lot to say about the topics. The forum was open to anyone who had an interest in the topics, and their discourse provided a wealth of information about my paper.

While I did have to do a little digging into the terms discussed in the Twitter discussion, I was able to pull out some useful info in regards to how people in the industry view SEO. Some find it to be harmless, while others feel that the ethics are quite gray and questionable. This is perfect data for my paper because it helps further the point that this unregulated industry could be damaging to businesses that have no say in the matter and who, if they do, desire to remain separate from practices that they find "shady."

Most of my data comes from an interview that I conducted with a pair of small business owners and their interactions with SEO and similar practices.