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Ethics -Does it Really matter in SEO ?

by samfischer980
3 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Rap Genius the big brand in song lyrics lost their Google rankings for slightly over a week, something that is definitely on the extremely short side of penalty lengths for invalid backlink warnings. And they were also getting special help from Google to resolve the issues.And not only that they even outed their major competitors to Google saying that those competitors also used black hat techniques in hopes that they would get penalized.
Who was at fault here ? Is this natural thing for Google to do as it pleases and what about RP who just blatantly outed its competitors .
If it were you would you have slashed your competition this way?
#ethics #google #matter #penalising or blacklisted #seo
  • Profile picture of the author onSubie
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  • Profile picture of the author nettiapina
    If you're talking about large scale search engine spam the only explanation you need is pragmatic. Google is defending their product, and Rap Genius was caught with pants down trying to soil it. Rap Genius tried to defend their business from what they saw as unfair competition in the search results so they took the opportunity and outed their competition.

    It's very likely that if I came across spamming I'd first let the company know about it because most actors around here are also potential partners or allies. But if they kept it up would I have any reason to not report them? Again, simply for pragmatic reasons: keeping internet clean and cutting some competition from SERPs.

    I wouldn't see any reason to report random IMers for example.

    Ethics in SEO is interesting question. There's only a certain small corner that I'd consider purely white hat, and nearly every SEO I've heard of operates at least partly outside that area. I guess I'd draw the line to blatant mass spamming, selling something that doesn't work or isn't what the client wants, misdirecting the client, and using techniques that may even hurt client's business.
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    Links in signature will not help your SEO. Not on this site, and not on any other forum.
    Who told me this? An ex Google web spam engineer.

    What's your excuse?
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    • Profile picture of the author HKSEO Extropy
      It's Google's sandbox, so they can make whatever rules they want, unfortunately.

      We all know they give preferential treatment to big brands that get penalties, even giving one-on-one guidance and removing penalties. But they still penalize to keep up appearances, even if it's only for a short time. (A good analysis of the RapGenius issue is over at Did Matt Cutts Endorse Rap Genius Link Spam? | SEO Book)

      I think each person needs to decide what lines they will and will not cross. For example, I've been asked to do negative SEO and negative reviews and turn it down. And I'll never knowingly out a fellow SEO for using tactics, even if I don't agree with them.

      At the same time, I have no problem manipulating Google rankings via SEO. They could care less if they cost me money or give me an inferior experience, so why should I hold myself to a different standard.

      I think it's the right way to operate my business and it helps me sleep at night.
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