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Isn’t it Time We Start a Digital Consultant Code of Ethics?

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state of the industryAbout a week ago, my partner and I did a Hangout On Air with Jim Hedger, regarding this thought-provoking article on The SEM Post. The article prompted a lot of renewed discussion about the reputation of the SEO industry, best practices and ethics and even touched upon certification.

There’s a history

There have been several efforts to generate support for the idea of certification for SEO practitioners, but all have been met with indifference or outright resistance. At one point, in seemed that SEMPO might have had a chance to muster enough support for the idea, but that non-profit organization became so costly that it was economically exclusive to many independents. They missed the boat, and as a result, the path going forward has even more obstacles.

Many SEOs are rightfully indignant at the notion of others dictating how they should ply their trade. Every market, every client and every situation is different, so the tactics and acceptable risk will vary widely. And many of us are in business for ourselves because of our independent spirits.

What’s the real issue?

In my opinion, though, what it really boils down to is a question of business ethics… not so much SEO-specific ethics (the existence of white and black hat SEO practices is a myth – there are no hats). The ethics question comes into play in the way we handle our clients, not their websites.

So accepting for the moment that an agreement on best practices or certification is, at best, in the distant future, let’s think about a Code of Ethics. What might such a Code address?

ethics ahead

We can leave SEO and marketing out of it, in fact… this code of ethics could serve any consultant in any field. It would simply deal with basic issues like honesty, integrity, trust and responsibility, like most published codes. It would involve such things as conflicts of interest, transparency, fiscal responsibility – essentially, the basic tenets of professionalism that any consultant or agency should already be practicing, regardless of their field.

It can’t address any specific best practices, because (a) best practices vary by niche and situation and (b) we in the industry often can’t seem to agree on the time of day. But voluntary commitment to a standard of professionalism could make it much easier for clients to select a consultant… and evaluate the quality of their service. Hopefully, that will gradually force the craphats to either find a new trade or clean up their acts.

Today, there exist many questions for clients that aren’t intimately familiar with the current state of the industry (and really, how many are?). Is keyword density important? Should we list ourselves on as many directories as possible? Should we buy links? Amazingly, perhaps, to those of us that stay abreast of the evolution of SEO, the vast majority of site owners live outside our bubble, and often have no idea that such questions shouldn’t even be asked.

And sadly, with the barrier to entry nearly non-existent, many so-called SEOs either have no idea, or just don’t care, as long as they get their invoice paid.

How might it work?

Hence, the primary topic of Jim Hedger’s article… our name is MUD, due to unscrupulous treatment, negligence and occasional malfeasance of some self-proclaimed experts, ninjas and gurus. His point, which I wholeheartedly agree with, is that it’s long past time to do something about it. If we can’t undo the damage immediately, we can at least stop the bleeding!

So I propose that we put our heads together and come up with a credible organization that can:

  • Publish and promote some sort of Digital Consultant Code of Ethics;
  • Make it very visible to site owners and webmasters, along with a published list of consultants and agencies that have pledged to employ it;
  • Provide a simple validation that a consultant or agency is a member in good standing and has adopted the Code as a standard;
  • Make membership readily available and affordable;
  • Employ some sort of review process for substantiated complaints.

Imagine that site owner Jonathan Q. Innocent is considering hiring a consultant, and the We-R-Wondrous Agency claims to be a member, adhering to their published Code of Ethics. Jonathan visits the organization’s website and requests validation of WRW’s status. It is immediately confirmed to him that WRW is a member in good standing, with zero complaints.

What would it mean?

Does this mean that WRW is the most qualified to serve J.Q. Innocent’s needs? Of course not! It simply means that WRW has pledged to uphold certain standards of professionalism.

If WRW fails to live up to that pledge, will the CEO be horse-whipped or run out of town on a rail? Nope. But if Jonathan files a complaint with the organization, they’ll ask WRW about it, and if it’s evident that they didn’t live up to their word, then perhaps their standing in the organization might be affected.

There are a lot of details to be hammered out when trying to set something like this up. And in my opinion, it’s not likely to be widely accepted, unless a lot of people have an opportunity to offer their input. Crowd-sourcing is probably the best way to approach it.

I think it’s time to bring a lot of people together and exchange ideas, so I’m contacting a number of widely respected professionals in the SEO and marketing industries. I’m soliciting their support in an effort to reach a consensus on how such an organization should be structured and managed, what its goals should be and how to give everyone a voice.

I expect we’ll be announcing the first steps before long… we’ll likely start with some hangouts for a crowd-sourcing free-for-all. Hope to see you all there.

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Doc Sheldon

Doc Sheldon began studying SEO in earnest in 2003 and began offering SEO services part-time a couple of years later. In 2008, he retired from his business management consulting firm and began practicing SEO full-time. He concentrates on staying abreast of new and upcoming developments in search and writes extensively on technical SEO and semantic search. He manages his SEO consultancy, Intrinsic Value SEO, and his content agency, Top Shelf Copy, from his San Diego office, with U.S satellite offices in Missouri and Pennsylvania as well as in Australia and Great Britain. He also has alliances with several other SEOs, from which they offer international marketing services. Doc's passions are combating online misinformation and the Semantic Web. Oh, and he dislikes both beets and blended Scotch - passionately. You can see more of Doc's writing and connect with him on various social media platforms via his Google+ account.

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Comments

  1. If we do it as an organization, just include a link with a dofollow to all members who agree to abide by the code – and give them a badge they can use on their website. I’m sure tons of SEO companies would even pay to join that way.

    • An option, certainly, although I’d prefer that the link not be the prime motivation. 😉

      • I agree with Doc. Links should not be a motivating factor. If it is, all integrity is lost.

        • I appreciate your agreement, Kim… would you mind calling my wife and expressing the sentiment than I’m not ALWAYS wrong?

        • Don’t give the link off the bat. Citation or nofollow then incentivize followed link with x numer of reviews averaging 4 stars plus from vetted clients. Sort of like Moz gives you a followed link from your profile after you reach x number of Moz points.

          And make violating the code of ethics have some weight behind it. Like National Association of Realtors does by booting bad realtors.

          That’d be a nice linkable asset.

      • My comment was kind of a tongue in cheek jab at many of the currently existing “organizations” and “top seos” sites out there.

        • I figured you were, Ryan… just thought I’d slip the motivation issue in there from the start. 😉

  2. Doc perhaps you remember the Standards conversation with Terry van Horne and David Harry from a few years back where I positioned the idea of having a list of tactics and risk ratings, as agreed upon by a group of groups. “Code of Ethics” frankly puts distaste in people’s mouths, I have experienced, kind of the way some people frown upon religious belief sets and respect them more for lack of encroachment. If smart marketers out there have an industry-consensus on the risk factors for various tactics and were able to weigh versus opportunity, they could make a more informed decision.

    • I remember well, Chris. I especially remember being dumbfounded at the tremendous disparity of opinions and beliefs that were expressed… often vehemently.
      Since then, I’ve come to believe that since it’s nearly impossible to arrive at a consensus of what day of the week it is, any effort to establish any sort of formal list of “best practices”, let alone “certification”, would be fruitless. First, what is best practices for your client’s site might be disastrous for my client’s. Second, we’re a contentious lot… many of us are in the business at least partly because we don’t like being directed. Even a crowd-sourced BP schedule would likely see very limited adoption.
      Then, of course, there’s the whole “risk factors” issue… talk about a rapidly moving target! 😉
      That’s not to say I can’t see it ever happening, Chris. And frankly, I’d love to see it. I just don’t think we’re at that point yet, where the idea will be widely accepted. A code of ethics is a baby step toward a consensus… relatively innocuous, but still helpful to consumers.

  3. Doc, I’m new on the board of SEMPO, and I truly think that SEMPO is the best chance for something like this to happen. SEMPO has had it’s problems in the past (and present) and isn’t perfect – but it has history and brand recognition. If you’re willing to help, I’ll do all I can to push things through. But it won’t be an easy process. There are already SEVERAL code of ethics out there (Bruce Clay, anyone?) but unless you have a way to get widespread adoption – it means nothing. You’ll have to have money to get something like this off the ground. I’ve had the same thoughts as you. Just read this blog series I wrote back 4 years ago.

    http://shavingoccam.com/2011/06/10/embracing-change-evolving-in-seo-town/
    http://shavingoccam.com/2011/07/20/evolving-in-seo-town-search-engine-marketing-reputation-management-problem-part-ii/

    I’d love to talk to you about how this can be done. The time for SEMPO hasn’t passed yet. It just needs some help getting to where people can get behind it again. I ran for the board because, like you, I was thinking of starting something myself. I came to the conclusion that if I hadn’t tried to help fix the current system, then I was part of the current system’s problem. If I can’t fix it, I’ll look at other options – but you’ve got to try to fix what we’ve got before further fragmenting an already fragmented industry. Just my opinion (and not necessarily SEMPO’s).

    • I’d love to discuss it with you, Tony. I have no horse in this race… I’m just proposing a renewed effort to stop the bleeding. I can bitch & moan with the best of ’em, but at the end of the day, it won’t accomplish anything. Maybe a slightly less intrusive approach can garner a better reception, and I certainly feel that it needs to be crowd-sourced to achieve that. Backing from different organizations would be beneficial… I think that ownership of it needs to be the membership.

  4. This would need to evolve as a grass roots initiative. Having SEMPO participate is good for the visibility, however it needs to be independant. No do- follow linking. None. Thats a deal breaker for me.

    • I agree, Alan… that’s one of the first conclusions we reached, given the history surrounding the whole idea.

  7. “It would simply deal with basic issues like honesty, integrity, trust and responsibility, like most published codes.”

    I think anyone who does business with anybody already have done due diligence and knows these things or should. All you are doing is giving them incentive to not do even that little bit of due diligence.. so I do not see where a badge or any seal or anything actually helps consumers make decisions about who to contract and what best serves their needs and budget. Most do not even have the knowledge needed to make the hire so when you do nothing in that department …. you are doing nothing to fix the problem of uninformed buyers or the reputation that SEO’s have EARNED via “buyers beware” BS that’s been around from the dawn….

    Bruce Clay had the same kind of seal in about 2003… and what did that do for the reputation of the industry? I started the first ORG for SEO’s in 2003 so when I read these kinds of posts… I gotta laugh cuz it’s just another post…quite like the “SEO is dead” anthems…in one ear and out the other… and no one does nothing… just talk 😉

  8. Hi All, a few comments:

    (1) SEMPO has has had more than a decade to do something/anything and has failed to live up to even that standard. Buying people a drink after a conference is not what I’m looking for – I can go down to my neighborhood bar after a work week and drink with people I want to, but unless SEMPO can step past the “buy you a beer” and become a professional organization, I don’t see much of a need for it. Ever.

    (2) A code of ethics doe not have to be religious based, and if you represent SEMPO and you think it does, you and SEMPO should step far away from being involved in the creation of one. A code of ethics probably does need people from outside of the industry involved in creating it rather than insiders who became members because of the opportunity for links from the home page of the organization.or other conflicts of interest.

    (3) The Bruce Clay Code of Ethics said nothing about a responsibility to consumers, including not marketing in a way that might mislead them, and the failure to include such a thing shows off that it wasn’t a very good code of ethics.

    (4) I’m not part of the SEO industry’s problem because I haven’t helped SEMPO. I tried to kill SEMPO when it was first starting out because I didn’t believe in it, and the people who were running it didn’t give us much reason to have any faith. I didn’t believe in taking the exorbitant dues and using it to pay the President of the organization, See:

    http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/topic/7143-so-what-does-sempo-mean-to-you/page-3#entry79714

    SEMPO had earned over $ 220,000 in its first year? What did SEMPO do with that money?

    I included a few other posts in that thread about trade groups. that you might want to look at:

    http://www.cre8asiteforums.com/forums/topic/7143-so-what-does-sempo-mean-to-you/?postorder=asc&start=105

    As for needing money, hogwash! SEMPO pissed away over $ 220,000 in its first year, and yet I started a website a couple of years later for $40 that’s still running today and has helped educate thousands of people since for free.

    • What Bill said. 100%. For me to back SEMPO would take actually seeing it provide value to the industry. Where does their money go? Who do they represent? The same can be said for several professional organizations. I belong to several in the IA/UX/Human Factors industry because they are very active and provide me with something for my money, such as case studies and research. Their fees are extremely affordable. Some of them encourage local chapters for networking.

      Ethics, in my opinion, is not something that can be, or will, universally adapted because power and money are what drives marketing.

      I’m willing to stand behind plans to educate best practices and promote companies that perform them. I don’t believe the SEO industry can monitor itself or create a system that alerts the public to companies or freelancers who perform methodologies that are dangerous and misleading.

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