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Ethics in Optimization

By Eric Coons

 My eyes are bleeding and my head is thumping as I sit here and try to come up with a way to explain the individual algorithms of search engines in a way that any normal person would understand. Guess what…It can’t be done!  

No search engine is going to let you in on their secret of ranking sites, because they only have one #1 position for each keyword. Someone has to be #2. If everyone knew what the engines were looking for, there would be even more trash out there trying to pass for quality sites than there already are.  

I have read so many crap articles that tell you to create 1 page for each of the search engines, with that page optimized for just that one particular engine, and how you should stuff all kinds of keywords and misspelled words and different capitalization and punctuation and tie a yaks bladder to the top of your head on the 15^th of each month and sing Tom Jones’ version of Kiss.  

If we would all just stop trying to “trick” the engines and focus on our sites, the web would be a better place. If we would stop trying to “trick” visitors into coming to our sites, and seek out the visitors that are looking for the info rmation we have to offer by actually giving them something of substance, the web would be a better place.  

Deception, scam, hoax, trap, swindle, ploy, these are the words that were suggested to me as a replacement for the word trick by my thesaurus program. I hate it when I get on a site and click my back button only to find that I can’t go back. I just keep going to the home page of whatever site I’m on. It’s called Mousetrapping, and it infuriates me. What makes site owners feel that they will win new customers by holding them captive? If you walked into a retail store and they locked the door behind you until you bought or smashed out a window, you probably wouldn’t go back there again. Why is the web different?  

Another thing that grabs my noodle is roadblock advertising. My wife and I sit down to watch a new movie on one of the movie channels every Saturday night. I sit down at the computer and punch up the listing site for the time and …Pow! Right in the middle of the screen. Right where I was about to click, blocking my view of everything else on the screen is an moving screaming advertisement for Viagra, or Hemorrhoid cream or the next mind numbing sitcom from the creators of Dharma and Grace. And the only way to close them is to find the little secret button that could be in the top corners, bottom corners, or anywhere else on the stupid page. I just want to know what movie is on at eight!  These advertisements work, but at what cost?  

Sure, you still need to try to get into the search engines. Use the old tried and true methods, of keywords, linking and content. Sure you still need visitors. But try to do it without upsetting people. Let’s try to improve the web by raising our own standards for the sites we generate, and set an example for the newcomers. Thanks for letting me vent.

Eric Coons has been involved with computers and has been designing websites since the early 1990’s. He is the webmaster of

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