Philosophy of an SEM

The following is an excerpt from the Thrivepoint white paper, “The Anatomy of Search Marketing Firms: An Insider Look at Search Marketing Service Operations.”

The approach that a search marketing firm employs in its strategy and tactics for achieving results is born from its search marketing philosophy. A firm’s philosophy is taught from day one to new employees and re-enforced to existing employees through process, training, compensation and other aspects of the firm’s culture. While every firm has a unique approach and competitive positioning, in the search marketing field, there are two general philosophies firms tend to segment themselves into.

A BlackHat firm is concerned with immediate success regardless of the rules established by the search engines in its terms of use and guidelines. BlackHat firms bend and break the rules established by the search engines and opportunistically identify competitive gaps where its clients can maximize results. While results may be achieved quickly, they may be short-lived and the firm’s clients may face consequences from the search engines if the techniques are discovered.

While BlackHat is a term used most often in reference to SEO, it can just as easily be applied to paid search. With commercial contracts and direct API access, paid search offers many opportunities for BlackHat firms to exploit advantages in paid search campaigns.

A WhiteHat firm focuses on delivering results while ensuring that the client’s marketing does not violate the terms of use and guidelines of the search engines. WhiteHat firms work within the confines of the rules to establish practices that will maximize client results without the risk of penalties from the search engines. While the risk of penalties from the engine is greatly reduced and results generally last longer, results may take longer to develop.

It should be noted that a BlackHat firm will include a layer of WhiteHat practices in its offering as a matter of best practice. Balancing the combination of the two provides more stability for the BlackHat program. And on the other hand, there are times when a WhiteHat firm inadvertently employs BlackHat techniques on its client’s business. This can happen when a firm’s training programs are out of date or if inexperienced staff is assigned to a client’s account.

To read more and download the whitepaper,Click here. Please contact us if you would like to discuss your upcoming agency search with a Thrivepoint advisor.

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