14/10/2013
Tactics Vs. Principles
The first part of this problem is that people are always asking Google about SEO tactics. Is this tactic ok? From Google’s perspective, some of these questions are like wolves in sheep’s clothing. To them, the flow of questions looks like this:
1. Is guest posting ok?
2. Is issuing press releases ok?
3. Is participating in DoFollow networks ok?
4. Is dropping links in thousands of forums ok?
5. Is taking candy from a baby ok?
6. Is writing great content ok?
7. Is corporate corruption ok?
8. Are links I received that I never asked for ok?
9. Is in**st ok?
10. Is being interviewed by the New York Times ok?
11. Is getting fantastic links as a result of sharing my content on social media ok?
Clear Tactics Invite Spammers
Even the very first question in the above list is controversial. Illustrated another way, the person who asks, “Is guest posting is ok?” may actually be asking, “Is it ok if I spew out thousands of article spun blog posts to low-quality sites that have no editorial judgment at all?” This is what Google fears every time they hear a question about a potential SEO tactic. In short, Google hears something like this: “Do you mind If I spam you this way?”
In addition, Google’s challenge is that being clear on a tactical level about what is and is not ok sets them up for spammers to become more effective. Any time Google provides clear guidelines on what is an ok tactic, spammers will begin to devise ways to abuse it, either from a quality perspective or a volume perspective (or both). For example, for the guest posting question, the answer really should be yes, but the SEO industry has scores of businesses that have totally abused that concept.
We can illustrate the way Google looks at the danger of communicating precisely on SEO tactics as follows:
