Censorship And SEO

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August 13th, 2010 by Click Consult

It is an unfortunate predicament that internet users find themselves in when internet search providers control the gateway to information. We trust ISPs to uphold the principles of freedom of information and, alongside that, provide unfettered access to every opinion on whatever subject. However, in order to expand business into countries without such freedoms, ISPs are finding they either have to compromise and censor their search results to suit the political regime, or run the risk of losing their operating licences.

There doesn’t seem to be any way around this in the long term, apart from democratisation, and ISPs are not in the business of regime change, unless of course it’s by exposure of users to other cultures via the internet. It’s not just users from the censored country that are penalised – it’s businesses and educators across the globe. Search engine optimisation, under normal circumstances, enhances your exposure to potential customers – but when ISPs allow themselves to be bullied into censoring results, fairness goes out of the window, and so does a percentage of your trade.

What is the alternative – is some presence, even censored, a good thing in order to open up communication or should ISPs withdraw altogether? While the good and the great are sorting this out, you should look seriously at your SEO with a view to ensuring nothing in your site content unwittingly offends the censors and blocks your site to customers in those countries. At Click Consult, we provide expert internet marketing advice and SEO analysis to ensure your site achieves maximum results.

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