Negative SEO? Any ideas?

[asepkomara]

I heard many ppl dropped in ranking and even dissapeared in SERP by using spam kind of backlinks.

So, why don't we kill our competitors sites using the same techniques? Is this ethical? If these effective, what do you think SERP will looks like?

[Rick Britton]

watch this presentation

Negative SEO: Myths, Realities, and Precautions - Whiteboard Friday | SEOmoz

[GodMode52]

I'll never be tired repeating the same thing over and over. Instead of wasting your time thinking how to ruin someone buisness use your time and energy adding value to your own site , this will be double rewarding in time.

[opensky]

asepkomara you ask 'Is negative seo ethical'? lol. Do you really need to ask. In any event, there are at least two major holes in Google's current system as highlighted more recently:

1. Penalties arising from backlinks which cannot be proven to have been caused by the site owner.

2. Google Places reviews have zero moderation, and as such the results are replete with fake positive reviews, and fake negative reviews, rendering the entire system almost worthless, with no credibility.

So, it's not only rankings that can be destroyed by competitors, disgruntled employees or ex employees, dodgy seo companies who get fired, seo companies working for competitors, crazed teenagers who think they're invincible on a power trip... but also a business's reputation can be quickly diminished.

Do google even care?

[hicksdelight]

Why would you bother? For every site you tank you will then have to tank another site that takes over that position, it would be a never ending thing and a complete waste of time.

And if you have to resort to that behaviour than franky you're just not very good at what you do and should choose another job path.

Saying that, it is a worrying road Google have gone down.

[opensky]

hicksdelight you're right, but it's not only about time, money or logic. Some people are power trippers and feel better about themselves by having a negative effect on another business. Unrelated, but you know those torrent download sites, how heaps of fake files get uploaded. Why would anyone bother to do that when there's no material benefit to them? Because it pisses people off, which means that the poster has had some effect. So if a negative seo campaigner can tank a site in spot 1 then they feel a sense of power.

[Bigfoot1]

Originally Posted by hicksdelight

Why would you bother? For every site you tank you will then have to tank another site that takes over that position, it would be a never ending thing and a complete waste of time.

And if you have to resort to that behaviour than franky you're just not very good at what you do and should choose another job path.

Saying that, it is a worrying road Google have gone down.

Well said.

A lot of people seem to see Online Marketing as a get rich scam.

People who resort to unethical ways to get ahead just make that reputation worse.

[Mosa]

Originally Posted by Rick Britton

watch this presentation

Negative SEO: Myths, Realities, and Precautions - Whiteboard Friday | SEOmoz

SEOmoz has their stuff down.

[DNY]

All i can say is it's not ethical. I read the Dan Thies thing and can't imagine someone doing that to me.
I just can't other doing that. I would rather use all that time and energy on my sites. Gosh that is something else why would you be willing to go that far to tank someone's site.
I know some people may do it but it not ethical.

David

[opensky]

DNY unethical for sure, and probably illegal. But how to prove who built the dodgy links? Google seem to send unnatural link messages without any evidence of who built the links. Even if you could know, suppose it's someone or several people working together in a different country, legally what could you do?

[satrap]

Originally Posted by asepkomara

I heard many ppl dropped in ranking and even dissapeared in SERP by using spam kind of backlinks.

So, why don't we kill our competitors sites using the same techniques? Is this ethical? If these effective, what do you think SERP will looks like?

Ask yourself, would you like it if a competitor does that to you?...

[sean21]

yes, but the problem is that one's competitors aren't asking that question of themselves...like asking the school bully: 'would you like it if someone picked on you?'...do you think he cares?

[sackboy127]

I think it's only temporary that negative SEO works, Google will surely patch it out, and then your competitors will come back stronger. You'd better spend that money on your own SEO.