Of course spammy SEO techniques are annoying…
There’s no doubt in my mind that white hat SEO techniques are the way to go. Tricking the system provides a short term boost (at best), and I prefer techniques that provide long term benefits.
Though I make my living on the internet, I still consider myself, above all, a member of the internet. (I’ve got a card and everything.*) Thinking like a user makes it much easier to figure out non-annoying ways of marketing to an internet audience. Google thinks like a user too—it has to, that’s the market for search.
Plenty of people demonize the company for going after paid links. One common argument is that Google (via AdWords) wants to be the only source of paid links out there and that is the reason it goes after paid links: to protect its bottom line.
That doesn’t make a lot of sense. AdWords advertisements don’t provide link juice—you are purchasing the advertising space. You can do the same thing on any website that sells text links. If your intention is only to advertise then it won’t matter if the link is nofollowed.
However, if your intention is to trick the system into thinking that your website is more valuable and popular than it actually is, then of course you are going to be frustrated about Google actively trying to track down and negate the value of your paid links.
*Disclaimer: that’s our developer Sam’s quip—can’t really take credit for it in an article about ethics.
…but should we be reporting websites to Google?
That being said, I’m not sure how I feel about snitching on other websites. I have wanted to report quite a few websites for their annoying techniques, but I’ve never followed through on it. After a few months of struggling with this question, I still haven’t come to a conclusion.
Isn’t ratting people out wrong? I can think of quite a few fictional mobster characters that might suggest cement boots and a watery end for that sort of thing. We aren’t talking about prison time here, but often I find myself wanting to report websites that are competition for us or our clients.
Why?
Frankly, because I want to get them out of our way. We’re trying to provide value, they aren’t, so they should rank below us. In other words, my motivation isn’t only to preserve the value of search results—we want to rank just like everyone else.
But here’s the thing: if webmasters and SEOs don’t send in these reports, who will? For instance, even if my grandma did know that she could report a spam result to Google, she wouldn’t know what to look for. I’m acutely aware, however, and I find it incredibly annoying.
I also know when my keyword competitors are buying links, because I keep a close eye on them. (Google Alerts—if you aren’t watching your competition, you should be.) I can be pretty certain that a link was purchased by:
- Reading the submission guidelines on the website. If you have to pay to be listed, it’s a paid link.
- Checking to see if the link is nofollowed. If not, then the link is providing the coveted juice.
Who, other than competitors, would even know if a site is purchasing links?
Well then, what should I do?
I’m in need of some ethical guidance here. I’ve been going over this for weeks now and I still can’t make a decision. What’s your opinion on reporting spammy websites to Google? Have you ever reported a website?
Tags: google, paid links, reporting paid links, search engines, white hat SEO
