World Wide Website Marketing War
December 19, 2013
Unwavering in the task at hand, the Head of Webspam studies the newest intelligence reports. Enemies approach from multiple directions. Some adversaries are bold, while others work in the shadows. Fearlessly, the leader of Google’s special operative forces employs new strategies to seek out and destroy enemy threats. Analyzing the data, he calculates his next counter strike. He must make an example of this website marketing fiend.
Classic MADtv for Throwback Thursday.
It’s the classic good versus bad, white hat against black hat. Google has established itself as the go-to search engine and just about all things web-related (even if it isn’t quite sentient yet as far as we know). It’s their turf, so you ought to play by their rules or you just might find yourself on the receiving end of Matt Cutts’ blade. Even though Cutts and company have repeatedly shut down black hat rings, spam sites just keep coming back and things are heating up.
“Our installation code/software used to publish the sold links is not detectable by the search engine bots.” Au contraire!
— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) December 13, 2013
“There are absolutely NO footprints linking the websites together” Oh, Anglo Rank.
— Matt Cutts (@mattcutts) December 6, 2013
Last Friday the 13 was an unlucky day for BackLinks.com. The Friday before, Cutts’ led his anti-spam forces to victory by destroying AngloRank whose leader escaped and is rebuilding his war machine. What might this Friday bring?
We know Matt Cutts plays hardball with Google law breakers, and he’s made it clear he wants to “break their spirits” (skip ahead to the 1 hour 25 minute mark). Launch an attack, and he’ll strike right back twice as hard. It’s been a common trend over the last year or so, and don’t expect Google to go soft in 2014. The Head of Webspam is now hanging heads as trophies for everyone to see. So what’s a guy or gal to do?
If you are a business owner or seeking website marketing services, take a moment to double check how legit your SEO company is because they may utilize black hat strategy without you knowing. It’s a rough-and-tumble, dog-eat-dog world out there, and plenty of people are looking for a quick buck – yours. Someone may promise you quick results to land on page one – and may even deliver – but black hat tactics could get your site banned. Don’t give into the temptation to go to the dark side because Cutts’ retribution will be swift and painful. Instead, choose a proven search engine marketing company that has a track record of success while adhering to the Google law.
For those of us providing SEO services, it’s simple: stick to the rulebook. Google is clear about what they expect from SEO agencies and what the no-no techniques are. Although SEO best practices are fluid, your job is to keep on top of industry news. An acceptable method a few years ago might be frowned upon nowadays, so ensure that you and your team are up-to-date in knowledge and practice. Google’s goal is to provide the best user experience possible, so spam sites are dealt with seriously by Captain Cutts.
Now, I’m especially fascinated by World War II, so perhaps my mental image of Matt Cutts wearing a formal military uniform (and a white hat, of course) may be a little strange, but let’s face it: a website marketing war is raging.