12 replies to this topic

[Jill]

Yay! Even Danny's Sick Of Seo Spammers!

Well, he's at least sick of the entire SEO industry being called "Worthless Shady Criminals"!

Perhaps having Black Hat / White Hat Panels isn't a good idea either, as any platform given to those who espouse spamming the engines, can backfire and paint us all with the same brush (even if we're on the white hat side of the table!).

Worthless Shady Criminals: A Defense Of SEO

Do SEO? This means you. That's how you're being described. Those characterizing search engine optimization this way are unfairly defining an entire industry, often ignorant of SEO issues, definitely stereotyping and shortsighted in not realizing the value SEO offers to every site.

I hope this article will educate some about why SEO is not all bad. At the very least, I want to examine how we've ended up in this sorry state of affairs and why it isn't helpful to critics and those doing SEO alike.

Good article Danny!

[xan]

Its odd really isn't it. You guys have problems with hats and we have problems with hacks.

Its the age long battle of good v evil.

[Alan Perkins]

Well, he's at least sick of the entire SEO industry being called "Worthless Shady Criminals"!

...rather than just the {insert percentage here}% that actually deserve it. How does the saying go? "99% of lawyers give the other 1% a bad name".

Seriously, we've been saying this stuff for years. I even spoke about screenreaders on a WmW thread nearly 5 years ago...

http://www.webmaster...m24/35-7-10.htm

I would like to think that the page delivered to the search engine could also be retrieved by a browser equipped with a text-to-speech converter and used by the blind.

It doesn't help that methods of deception are given airtime and kudos in popular channels but this stuff is never going to go away, at least until some time after it's ecomically unviable.

[Scottie]

It's more of an SEO vs Design article than decrying or calling for an end to black hat spamming...

It is about using things they were meant to be used though, which is a good thing.

[Scottie]

I had a few (I thought) good posts over at Threadwatch about the types of "SEO" that work by abusing other sites in terms of referral spamming, guestbook and blog spamming and how those should not be considered "optimization". That thread was deleted, sadly...

But the point remains- I don't like being lumped in with "professionals" who think that getting ahead by brute force attacks on other sites (page hijacking, cloaking stolen content, referral spamming, blog or guestbook spamming) is SEO. Those tactics are NOT optimization.

[storyspinner]

You know that old addage ... "one rotten apples spoils the whole barrel" .. that's what I feel like a lot of times when people start saying SEO's are shady and awful .. and "criminal".

Unfortunatley it's story's like this one (Blogger Alleges CNN Using Spamming Techniques) that make the entire grouping of SEM/SEO look bad.

But I'm glad for Danny's article! He comes highly respected and maybe it'll change a few minds

Thanks Jill for sharing that article link!

[cline]

It's more than just a black hat/white hat sort of thing. This industry has players that even give the black hats a bad name: People who are completely incompetent at any SEO technique, white or black hat, whose principal objective is to trick the clients out of as much money as possible. They don't even bother trying to trick the search engines.

[Jill]

They don't even bother trying to trick the search engines.

Heck, why not skip the middle man!

[lyn]

I sent the observation to Chris Sherman that SEO reputations because the pirate/brute force types also have few qualms about spamming Inboxes. For a lot of people, those hyped up e-mails are their first or only exposure to SEO.

Imagine if the reputation of pharmacists was based on Viagra spam!

L.

[Hyperformance]

Right On Cline -

"People who are completely incompetent at any SEO technique, white or black hat, whose principal objective is to trick the clients out of as much money as possible."

Unfortunately, I have met a few of these... it's like Alan said - the 80/20 rule.

As for the "rest" of us, we just need to continue our success' and continue to win mindshare in the marketplace. Good website marketing, (SEO), Organic, Paid, etc., is capturing a lot of (positive) article space in the retail sector, I know it's growing everywhere, and true results will keep those articles and returns on the positive side.

[Matt B]

This is why I don't tell people i do SEO for a living (not that people know what it is anyway).
I tell people that I do web site marketing - when marketing is the focus, then the decisions are easier. I think that is what Danny is trying to communicate with the article - that it is more than rankings "at all costs" as the ultimate goal.


[edited for significant spelling erors]

Edited by Matt B, 02 May 2005 - 08:12 AM.

[projectphp]

I avoid talking about work at all I HATE boring people, and I am often SHOCKED that people are even slightly interested in what I do. That, and I hate having to consult for free on my own time to people who aren't really interested.

I think the problem with SEO/M's reputation is the English language. One word for love. I mean really, how can the love ofa child tbe the same as the love of food or a partner or friend?

Ditto with SEO/M. We have one word that describes a bunch of loosely related strategies.

Unfortunately, nothing we can do about the paucity of the English language, or of the human desire to categorise and compartmentalise existence to make it manageable. All we can do is promote our own brand of SEO/M, and the benefits / advantages therein.

[randfish]

There are advantages to being seen as an underground guerilla group, though. No one wants to be associated with spamming, but it is nice to be in an industry where there are "secrets" and "intrigue" and "conflict" and "sides". Without the drama, we'd all just be MySQL geeks and where's the fun in that?