SEO Ethics
- Rank Magic will never intentionally do harm to a client.We will avoid any technology or practice that is likely to result in having the client site removed from search engine indexes or directories, or have its position in the rankings penalized.
- We will never intentionally violate any specifically published and enforced rules of search engines or directories. Should rules and guidelines change (as they often do), we will promptly take action to comply with the changes as they apply to all clients. Where rules and guidelines are unclear, the we will research best practices and/or seek clarification and approval from the appropriate search engine before continuing to utilize any potentially risky technology or procedures.
- We will never intentionally mislead, harm, or offend a consumer. Individuals utilizing a search engine to visit a site of our client will not be misled by our optimization practices. This includes techniques like “bait and switch” where the client page does not substantially contain and is not clearly related to the optimized phrase.
- We will never intentionally violate any laws. This involves the deliberate and continued violation ofcopyrights, trademarks, or servicemarks. We will also not violate laws related to spamming as they may exist at the state, federal, or international level.
- We will never falsely represent the content of the client site. This includes the practice of presenting different versions of web pages to different users except where that information is altered solely to meet browser specifications and needs, sensitivity to regional factors such as language, or product specific needs. This also includes using “doorway pages” to present one set of content to search engines and another set of content to visitors. In general, all requests for a specific URL should be served identical HTML by the web server.
- We will never falsely represent others’ work as our own. This includes the taking of work from others in whole or in part and representing this work as having been done by Rank Magic. We will never make verbatim copies of the work of others (instead of authoring original work) without the prior consent of the originating party.
- We will never misrepresent our own abilities, education, training, standards of performance, certifications, trade group affiliations, technical inventory, or experience. This includes quantifiable statements related to project timetables, performance history, company resources (staff, equipment, and proprietary products), and client lists. Guarantees will be restricted to items over which Rank Magic has significant and reasonable control.
- We will never participate in a conflict of interest without prior notice to all parties involved. This includes the practice of choosing to emphasize one client over another in competing keywords because there is more personal gain for Rank Magic (or for any other reason). This does not mean that Rank Magic may not represent multiple clients for some of the same keywords, but all clients will be treated equally and all will receive equal best effort in their Search Engine Optimization.
- We will never knowingly set unreasonable client expectations. This includes the practice of accepting more than a reasonable number of clients competing for the same keywords and implying that all will be in the top positions in the search engines. This also includes giving the impression that results can be obtained in an unreasonable amount of time given the known condition of the search engines, client web site, and competition.
- We offer clients both internal and external dispute resolution procedures. This includes the publishing of our phone numbers on our web site, and contracts (if used) that include sections discussing dispute resolution.
- We will protect the confidentiality and anonymity of our clients with regards to privileged information and items implying testimonial support for us. All members of our staff are bound to protect information that is not generally known insofar as it may harm our client. We will not publish testimonials or proprietary logos of clients, press releases, or any other material discussing our clients without explicit approval.
- Rank Magic will work to the best of our ability to increase or retain the rankings of client sites.Clients are contracting for fee with us in order to obtain and retain search engine placement. We recognize our obligation to use appropriate and allowed technology and methodologies to improve and/or retain the rankings for our clients in the face of changing search engine technology, competition, and client web site needs.
