Good advice on how to tell ethical from unethical search marketing firms from Mike Moran and Bill Hunt in Search Engine Marketing, Inc., Second Edition. Rather than boost your site, a glib operator, or spammer, can actually get it banned from search engines. 
In search marketing, “spam,” explain Moran and Hunt, is “any technique that is designed mainly to fool the search engines to gain an untoward advantage:”
• Be wary of firms that guarantee high rankings. “No reputable firms will promise you top results–too many variables are out of their control.”
• Be wary of firms that promise that top rankings require only…
Search engine optimization books get overridden fairly quickly. But here’s a new edition of a popular book worth considering. It’s the Second Edition of Mike Moran and Bill Hunt’s Search Engine Marketing, Inc.: Driving Search Traffic to Your Company’s Website (IBM Press). As some reviewers indicate, the book might be better for beginners while more experienced folks rely more heavily on online sources of SEO information.
