Is Automation Bad?

Id personally say it depends what your automating.

I think social bookmarking automatically is fine as your just automating it to make your time more worthwhile.

Programs that spam blog comments, then this I feel is when it becomes a little more "shady". As in my eyes it is just a case of spamming their link where ever they can.

I don't think Automation is black hat. It can be used in awesome ways, for one when you automate you can concentrate more on customer support rather than order fulfillment. I believe that blackhaters want to automate so they can move on to the next unethical act while still making money from the last.

When you deal with more people you'll need to have a system, a well working system. Automation just simplifies the process. No harm in that, but then again its all how ya use it.

So I suppose my own example of the hammer not caring how it's used is applicable.

The automation itself is not the issue, but the use of it that can cause the problem.

i dont think that would be bad as long as its not used for spamming.

If automation is bl@ckh@t, then 90% of the world is doing something really naughty.

Automation is great! Although many people will try to get you to think otherwise!

1. Is automation Bl@ck H@t? NO! Think about it...all of Google's entire business is built on automation. Sure they have human controls in there too, but without automation they would be nothing.
2. It is viewed that way here? Well, I guess that depends on who you talk to
3. You can't get sandboxed by using automation. In fact the ONLY things you can do to get sandboxed by Google in ONPAGE things (Cookie stuffing, warez, illegal stuff, etc) If you could get sandboxed by OFF-PAGE stuff you could sandbox all of your competitors.
4. Moral problems? Well, here's the thing...morals usually refer to breaking a law or a belief. TOO MANY PEOPLE THING GOOGLE IS LAW or worse GOD! There is nothing unethical about say...using automated means to submit your articles, links, etc. Even if Google comes out and says that they don't like it...it doesn't matter because you aren't doing anything unethical...they just don't like it when people try to use their techniques on them. Think about it...Google says to use original content right? Well, how much original content does GOOGLE have?? Just search for anything and see what is on their pages...EXACT DUPLICATE content.

All in all if you are using automation to break the law, scam people, or do unethical things. If you are using it to simplify and automate your process you are doing the same thing that Henry Ford did when he started automating the assembly of cars!

Automation is not only OK, it's compulsory if you really want to get on in this game. In fact there can be very few businesses (online or online) that does not rely on some kind of automation.

Most automation that's frowned upon (or worse) is generally not really acceptable even when done manually. It's not the automation, it's the process it automates.


The other issue is when automation pretends to be something it is not (usually a human being or fake identity).


So using automated emailing to scraped email lists is considered spam – but doing it manually is also spam.


Whereas' emailing your own optin- list is considered good business. NOT using an automated system in this case would be considered plain stupid.


Making blog comments manually and “adding value with good comments” is not considered spam.


Automating the process even when “adding value with good comments” is considered spam simply because you are not a human being.


Of course you will find that everyone draws their own personal line and that will be dependent both on the individual and what the do.

No tools are black hat, it's essentially what you do with them that counts, but automation is awesome, I would never have gotten to where I am without it

It really is going to depend on the methods used by the company whether you are going to get something worthwhile.

When it comes to Social Bookmarking, there are some great softwares available, but what you put in - in terms of the spin content to post, and the creativity with your linking structure - you don't need to link to your main site to get link juice to it.

Automation can't do that part - its the bit of reading the manual, working out a schema, and human input.

If a company is going to do something bh for you it might or might not work. Depends on their method, and quality of their human input.

I had someone once blast some XR links for me, waste of time and money - rubish quality links didn't stick no boost, not their fault, mine, cause I didn't think about any plan just thought hey I need thousands of backlinks to get ranking - how wrong can you be. Its just a piece in a jigsaw.

Hey, thanks for all the responses!

I'll look into 'WH' automation to make my life easier.