Is SEO spam?

[srini28]

Guys,

I am a professional SEO and Software Engineer...well, SE by the day and SEO by night I guess...have a small operation with freelancers and part-timers and a couple of employees offshore...

I am in a dilemma...one of the things I do is backlink generation from a wide variety of techniques...I do focus on quality content. In other words, my philosophy is that if I am able to post useful content anywhere, then I deserve a link back to my site for that. For instance, this post.

However, there are many that consider posting comments on blogs or forums or even article submissions as spamming the search engines.

I am considering moving to be a full time SEO, but this issue of ethics is the only thing that is preventing me from taking the plunge.

Fellow SEO's and non-SEO's - What are you thoughts on this issue?

Srini

[RLorenzen]

It depends on how you choose to practice SEO. If you're posting high quality blog/forum posts and articles and they are relevant to your site then I do not consider that spamming at all. Going to blogs and forums and leaving messages like this (and we see a lot of these here on YE) "Great Nike sneakers, 50% off, free shipping, shop our Nike sneakers, do you love Nike sneakers visit our site here: spam.com" is obviously spam. It does work for SEO, but it's spam and that I don't believe in.

[srini28]

I agree with that assessment, but there are some issues with that.

Thankfully, forums and blogs have gotten better at fighting spam so there is place out there for ethical SEO's that use these techniques respectfully and appropriately.

What about article submissions (same article submitted to a hundred sites), link directory submissions, Etc. At some point, your competitors are going to take advantage of the fact that SE algorithms are not smart enough to not award you for duplicate or bad content. Those SEO's have a huge advantage. The ethical guys have to charge much higher or not be able to compete. How do you get around that?

Srini

[flnazrael]

SE algorithms are not smart enough to not award you for duplicate or bad content

That is not true. Do some research and you will find that Google is a lot smarter than you give them credit for.

[RLorenzen]

There's nothing wrong with submitting your link to many directories or article sites. It's almost like placing an ad. If I were a cosmetic company and wanted to place an ad in 10 different women's magazines would that be spamming the magazines?

However, submit to too many and Google could penalize you. Submitting 1 article to 1,000 directories would be bad.

[DennisChang]

Its all about content. If you believe what you write is useful, be it blog comments or forum posts, why bother about what others think?

[srini28]

Thanks again...

I believe Google is good at differentiating the truly good links from the mediocre and outright crappy ones. The problem is that I believe they are not so good at differentiating between 'bad' links and 'mediocre' links. Mediocre links could be ones from a good comment on a blog. Bad link could be a blog that publishes comments unmoderated so some SEO figures that they can find old posts and publishes a crappy comment on that post.

Either way, thanks for your support guys. The passion to be ethical is stronger than ever now. The big challenge is to communicate that to my freelancing staff that does work for me. Often times, despite repeated warnings, they are not as sincere or ethical about their work and that affects quality. I guess it's about money. I think I need to pay higher but get better people to work for me. If what you guys say is true, I hope that pays in the long run. At least I'll have a clear conscience.

Thanks,
Srini

[Aletheides]

Blog commenting can be spam depending on how you do it. Sometimes I like to hire Indians to do it for me - that is definitely considered spamming.

SEO in general is definitely not spamming.

Yet some of the techniques used could be considered grey/black hat.

However, getting quality relevant links through link proposals is the most powerful and ethical thing you can do.

[srini28]

Thanks...I am using that as well..but at present, my success rate is less than 10% for successful links. Moreover, it is difficult to come up with incentives to offer for someone to link to you one-way and, as you know, reciprocal links are just not worth nearly as much these days.

Other aspects such as 3-way and 4-way linking also bother me a little bit. They are perfectly legit techniques. If I own multiple sites, who I link to from those sites is definitely my choice. But by actively choosing to use 3/4/5 way linking, I can create the impression of one-way links. I know Google is getting better at detecting those. But really, isn't that also somewhat unethical?

That's my point...too many things in SEO seems to be gray area...Is gray area work my true calling? I don't think so...when there are millions of other more ethical jobs, why choose something like this...that's my point...I am a bit confused about this again

[discountedclothing]

I think for you to achieve higher rankings and be an ethical SEO is to concentrate on your niche and practice link building. Always focus on 'relevant' links. Don't join the bandwagon of spamming.

[RLorenzen]

Thanks...I am using that as well..but at present, my success rate is less than 10% for successful links. Moreover, it is difficult to come up with incentives to offer for someone to link to you one-way and, as you know, reciprocal links are just not worth nearly as much these days.

Other aspects such as 3-way and 4-way linking also bother me a little bit. They are perfectly legit techniques. If I own multiple sites, who I link to from those sites is definitely my choice. But by actively choosing to use 3/4/5 way linking, I can create the impression of one-way links. I know Google is getting better at detecting those. But really, isn't that also somewhat unethical?

That's my point...too many things in SEO seems to be gray area...Is gray area work my true calling? I don't think so...when there are millions of other more ethical jobs, why choose something like this...that's my point...I am a bit confused about this again

I think you're analyzing it way too much. Do 3/4/5 link exchanges with high quality, good PR, relevant sites and it's perfectly ethical.

You can't refuse to do everything the rest of the SEO world does because they will beat you in the serps.

[Aletheides]

Your true calling is not building 3 way links with SEO, far too unethical.

I believe your true calling is being a celebate monk somewhere on a high mountaintop pondering the unethical tribulations of man and life....


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lol sorry couldn't help myself

But really, what's ethical and what isn't? If it work then it works. If it got your site banned then Google deemed it unethical. Google will tell you what's unethical and what isn't, you don't have to think about that. Right now Google isn't banning sites for 3 way links, article submissions, social bookmarking submissions, and countless other ways which are considered white hat methods of building links.

[trendsetter37]

good point

[srini28]

I see your point. However, I feel that my ethics should be governed by what I believe, not what Google dictates. Anyway, I am continuing to do all those things anyway on a daily basis. I guess I will focus on quality, useful content and relevance for now...

Thanks for your comments and critique..