I was concerned that I should even write this post for months. On one hand, I myself became well-known for calling out asshattery which pollutes the search marketing field in epic ways, and I have been doing it for a couple of years.
On another hand, I have also had the ability to step back more every year in my open attacks, despite my honest core thoughts on morals and ethics as it’ll come to business. Because let us face it, what one individual considers legitimate, one other one considers evil. It is a fact of life. The more time spent in a relationship with the Lord, the more I work to own the necessity to discern more and judge less.
Do not get me wrong here. I still do not like a few things I witness in this field.
One organization has stood out repeatedly over the years in their business practices, ‘solutions’ and services that a blatant and obvious pattern has arisen I can’t any longer deny. Nor could I sit down on the sidelines regarding this organization and pretend I do not have a passionate view about it.
Knowing My Decision Has Consequences
Given the truth that a few businesses have indeed seriously been destroyed by being ‘outed,’ I know that although it is unlikely given the high profile stance of the business I am referring to here, they might, indeed, eventually be banned from Google. Plus, I know that we are talking about individual’s lives here, their means to their income, with families who need to be fed, and the entirety of how much harm such an action can do.
Therefore, if you wish to skewer me for being a rat, so be it. In this case I am willing to risk destroying my reputation over it.
Problem with Link Schemes
If you possess any skin inside the search engine optimization game, just as soon as you hear the words ‘link scheme,’ you are more than likely to understand exactly the ‘kind’ of SEO I am referring to: the attempt to manipulate unnaturally the system with the end objective of gaining more visibility on Google solely for profit. Plus, in the challenge Google faces to battle these types of techniques, they openly ask for individuals to report this type of behavior.
They ask for our assistance merely due to companies and people being very sneaky concerning how they go about their work, as well as frequently discover new methods of gaming the system.
Grey Matter
Absolutely, it’s the greatest challenge – no matter the amount of times individuals sputter white-hat versus black hat, we reside in a universe that has several shades of grey. So much so, in fact, that to call the problems black and white is extremely short-sighted and honestly, it will do a disservice to the capability of us as a field, to perform fruitful, open discussions. And other people agree.
As I mentioned before, if any of us follows a spiritual path, we are given endless reasons through religious and spiritual teachings that it isn’t always smart to judge other people, lest we ourselves, are judged.
Rest of article in Part 2. Stay tuned.
