Web Infested with SEO Shadesters – Enter at Your Own Risk
Posted by Morgan Griffith | Posted in SEO, SEO Best Practices, bad SEO | Posted on 03-31-2011
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The other day I was at a coffee shop, where I intended to get some freelance SEO work done. While usually the set up of this particular coffee shop works out quite well– there’s community style library table seating–on this evening, it did not. Just as I sat down with my latte and cupcake piled 3 inches high with icing, opened my laptop, whipped out my iPad, and plugged up my android phone, I was immediately yanked in as an example in a conversation between two people sitting next to me who claimed to work on the Web.
You could tell that one of them, who later introduced himself as Greg, was actually a pretty bright guy. It was also apparent that he had some form of background in marketing and/or sales, as he immediately sounded like he was selling me a 1977 Volvo before he took his first breath. I’ll spare you the details (there are 2 hours of them..yes, 2 hours) but essentially, what it boiled down to was these two guys were working on websites and at least one of them, if not both, was immediately and noticeably unqualified to be doing so.
Now, to be fair, I’m not your average Web user. I’ve been working in web marketing for years. I spent the first half of my time in the post-college working world as a Marketing Director for a web content management software development company that’s here in Atlanta. I’ve done freelance work, I’ve done contract work, I currently work for one of the biggest companies in Atlanta doing web marketing, and am also building my own web-based application. So when I say noticeably, I mean by me. But since you’re reading this blog, it’s only fair that I share my insights with you so that you too can know how to spot an SEO counterfeit.
First of all, “hats” are not something that’s discussed amongst people who practice good SEO. Since good SEO is, by definition, white hat, it’s assumed that if you’re good at what you do, that’s what you’re doing. If you talk about hats, the people who do SEO will laugh at you, at least on the inside. Unless that is, if you’re criticizing black or grey hat techniques.
Secondly, anyone who talks about buying backlinks or leasing websites is also a shady character. To really do good SEO, you have to also commit to not only the techniques, but the performance and success of the product, website, and company that you’re marketing. How do you do that? By writing good content, managing a well organized, useful, and solid website, and committing to sharing that resource. Time spent on finding shady sites to place links on, which by the way, likely have no value, or creating websites to “lease” would be better spent dedicating yourself to the true success of the product or service you’re marketing and sharing that message using honest tactics on the Web.
That’s exactly why I’m hesitant when I meet someone who does SEO and has no long-term clients. How exactly, are you “doing SEO” then? SEO is not something you just do and walk away from. If you do that, you just don’t do SEO, plain and simple. Furthermore, if you’re willing to “do” this SEO for any number of clients yourself, once again, how exactly are you “doing SEO?” It takes time, it takes commitment, it takes dedication, it takes intelligence. It does not, take shadiness. And that’s exactly what this guy was, an SEO shadester.
It’s also worth noting, this guy’s blog wasn’t even managed within his site. If you clicked “blog” from the top navigation menu, it popped out to a new window with a new domain and a completely different look and feel. (HUGE red flag that I’ll address in a separate post).
So dude, next time you’re trying to get in with people who actually care about clients and web content, don’t talk about hats, leasing, volume of clients, short term gigs, or buying links. Us legit folks are laughing, and it’s not with you.
I agree with this completely. I’m a web strategist for a large corporation and hear many promises from vendors about what they can do with SEO on websites. SEO is not an over night success story at all. It takes time with online and offline marketing driving traffic to real sites that have been online for a very long time.
Morgan,
Not sure that I would disagree that the web is infested with SEO shadsters, but I will disagree that there is only long term SEO investment, or nothing. I’m not an SEO specialist by a long run, but because I deal with smaller businesses many times – but it is even sometimes with large scale clients – involving AdWords and social media strategy, I encounter DREADFUL SEO website states. I regularly see pages without meta-descriptions, or terribly worded meta-descriptions, or even not page titles with any thought. I see Flash completely obscuring any keyword reads. I see NO keyword content awareness in the least. And honestly I have seen these huge voids even in collaborating “marketing strategy” consultant websites with a lot of money behind them. I’ll “do” SEO because if I don’t do anything for these companies my work in AdWords and social media won’t be effective, there won’t be landing pages in parallel, blog work won’t be coordinated and keyworded, etc. I also sometimes for very small companies with limited budgets and experience “do SEO” in only a few days work, because frankly it pains me to see these sites (some of which supposedly have already been SEO’d, apparently) in such a disheveled state.
This is the thing that I have encountered. There is tremendous range in the amount of money businesses are willing to spend in the often perplexing world of online search, social media marketing and PPC. And there is an equally wide range in the states sites are in when a consultant reaches them. There are a lot of shady people out there pretending expertise, and businesses don’t know the difference. But honestly, because for many businesses it is a choice between a “little SEO” and the wasteland of websites that have nothing, offering “to do” SEO is not necessarily the mark of shadiness.
I can’t comment on the motivations of the man you describe, and would assume that your instincts are correct on him. But the real world choice is often not between full-scale long-term SEO and none. At times pages just need to be keyworded and meta-described (bloody hell), blog posts need to be keyworded and strategized, good content has to be directed towards conversation hubs and link-planted, just to get things functioning at even a modest level. For sure there are very deep SEO paths that can or even should be invested in – depending on the business model – the kinds of things that perfectly compliment AdWords and social media strategy (my world), but not every business has the same needs or resources, or even awareness.
The biggest point, and this is where we completely agree. People have to really represent what they CAN do honorably. For me, I use AdWords to create a semantic architecture which informs my social media strategizing, and requires at the very least a SEO made-friendly website anchor home. Me “doing SEO” is mandatory if none is available. I would never call myself an SEO strategist, or consultant. But there is a limit to what a business will hire or do.
Apologies for such a long initial comment on your blog, having just found it. Beautiful design, look forward to reading it. This post helped me express something that I’ve been thinking about a lot. Thanks for giving my the space to express my thoughts.
Kevin
@mediasres
Kevin,
First, thank you for your comment. I appreciate your willingness to disagree. I also agree with, and most certainly should have addressed many of your points in this blog. We often get very wound up in a specific mode of thought or a particular argument, and don’t adequately address all sides. Many of your points are 100% valid and they are all worth addressing.
You’re completely right when you say “I will disagree that there is only long term SEO investment, or nothing.” There is most certainly such a thing as short term SEO. I agree, that as you mentioned, when doing work from a PPC and social media marketing perspective, if the site and content being promoted isn’t up to par to be seen as relevant to a campaign, there is short-term SEO work to be done. You mentioned this as being a frequent problem with small business clients, and I agree. I do know that with time, this will get better. It’s worth noting that even for large clients with huge engines of websites, short term SEO is often a requirement. As an example, a large and siloed organization such as a government entity, or a university, will have smaller, less strategic areas of their business (and hence, site) that require basic content optimization and intuitive structure, but in most cases, won’t require ongoing frequent maintenance and development from an SEO perspective. Another example in which short-term SEO is warranted and anything else would be an overkill.
I love your point about a fundamental lack of keyword strategy and content awareness. At the organization for which I work full time, the first step I took when coming in and discussing search engine optimization, content marketing, PPC, social media etc. was to discuss the consideration for an overall keyword strategy. Without giving away too much detail into that situation, subareas of the business required core areas within those sub-departments be more heavily pushed than others for a variety of strategic reasons. In focusing on these niches and sub-niches, everyone was on the same page in knowing they would all need their own unique keyword and content strategy, but that these efforts would overlap and interlace to support larger organizational web goals. That gave everyone a really good perspective through which to consider all of their web marketing tactics. And this, is a good example of a longer term commitment to a content strategy. One where good content supporting core business goals and meeting user needs is at the root of all efforts.
For many businesses, this type of long-term and pervasive strategy won’t always be necessary. And in my opinion, the quality of a strategy and tactics are far more important than their respective duration. As you mentioned, the investment range companies are willing to make is broad. As such, it is up to us as content strategists, social media marketers, search engine optimizers and web marketers in general to provide honest services conducted with integrity, or none at all. If a company has a very small budget, there are basic tactics that can be employed, or at the very least, consulting and educational services to provide to the in-house team, if there is one. Or if the budget is deemed too small, the job can always be turned down. Whatever the case, my concern is with those who take none of the aforementioned routes, and instead make false promises and employ shady tactics. Those who say they’re conducting search engine optimization when they use bots or cheap labor to place 2,300 bogus links on content farms with no authority.
If you’re doing honest work reasonable within the resource scope provided, or doing work to supplement a PPC or social media campaign you’ve been brought on for, then nothing but kudos go your way. Thanks again for your thoughtful comment. Let me know if I can clarify or elaborate on anything anything.
-Morgan
Morgan,
Having worked with clients on a variety of SEO projects I always find it a sad state of web business when some of them have to be reassured that I wont be doing something “black hat”. I think its sad clients even know the term “black hat”.
SEO is not a tactic but instead a single element in a large business model. Some clients think that focusing on SEO will solve all of their problems without thinking about all of the other elements that make up a business. I love that you call your blog, SEO State of Mind because it really is that. It’s not just doing a few things that will improve SERPs but instead a way of thinking about doing business online.
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