I was re-reading all the posts and comments about this weeks hot topic (once more) SEO Standards. At one point there was mention about talking to clients about what an SEO firm is willing or unwilling to do as far as methodologies for reaching results. You know what I mean, so-called; grey and black hat tactics. Thus with my penchant for distraction I wandered off and thought to myself, why do I provide services in the manner that I do? Why is it that I play fairly close to the belt and not engage in shenanigans that I am all too familiar with? Not technically disadvantaged from at least, I understand the colors of the rainbow with the search opportunist hats that one can wear.
Why do I do what I do, the way that I do, not the other way of doing it?
Ok, partly due to the fact that I find our approach to SEO effective. I havent often found myself in the position of needing to resort to such tactics because if it aint broke? Dont fix it. Sure, it may not be the fastest way to grow rankings, but ultimately provides greater long term stability and enables relationships with the market through actually building a quality offering (worth linking to).
Yes, you also dont need to go there when most of your clientele are more established or are already authority sites in their niches and that really comes down to the types of projects you hunt down. This also minimizes the need to play around the fringes of colored caps with your SEO .
But in the end, one thing that has always stayed with me since my love affair with indexing and retrieval began; I am a searcher. --- Yup, its true. I dont watch much television and my hobbies are limited. I enjoy reading, learning and experiencing. I have a deep love of the internet (we build sites as well), as such I actually use search engines for matters other than work. Even during work efforts search engines are invaluable for researching niches, competitors and other business intelligence. So do I want to be dealing with Spam in the course of my travels? No and I consider myself a fairly advanced searcher. For those that are still struggling with the technology, I can only imagine the frustration.
I wouldnt take a shit on my own front porch, thus why would I do it on someone elses?
For me this is why, ultimately, I have a responsibility as a search engine manipulator. Not to the search engines, not to my clients really even; but to myself.
Does the industry need standards? Maybe. Maybe not. Do individual SEOs need standards? I think so go look in a mirror. Tell me what you see
We've had this conversation quite a few times in the past.. Personally I tend to work toward the white end of the spectrum, but understand that that isn't always the best solution for some clients..
Just like any business decision there needs to be an open understanding of the risks vs the rewards of any action.. There is a certain mega software company that has decided that it's better for them to pay the daily fines rather than change their business model to suit the people that want them changed..
Is it wrong or just a smart business decision?? Besides, last time I looked the search engines weren't creating laws, they were creating rules to make their job of indexing and organizing the data on the internet easier.. I'm not entirely convinced that I should make it my job to make their job easier..
|66.79.239.xxx
|2008-03-30 11:18:05
Dave
Hey Steve.... ya wouldn't be alluding to a certain Redmond Giant would ya? he he...
I know some folks from all colors of hats as ya know, thus know most of the tools at my disposal - I think in the end, being a guy that uses search engines a lot, I have a problem poisoning them. I don't care about the SEs really, more the users.
Obviously there are ethical problems when a client doesn't know shady tactics are being used as well... different kettle o fish there though.
As ya also know I think SEO = Search Engine Oportunist he he.... so as U said, it is also a Risk V Reward scenario.
..but hey, never mind BH, I am not even a fan of MFA's either... *sigh*
I was re-reading all the posts and comments about this weeks hot topic (once more) SEO Standards. At one point there was mention about talking to clients about what an SEO firm is willing or unwilling to do as far as methodologies for reaching results. You know what I mean, so-called; grey and black hat tactics. Thus with my penchant for distraction I wandered off and thought to myself, why do I provide services in the manner that I do? Why is it that I play fairly close to the belt and not engage in shenanigans that I am all too familiar with? Not technically disadvantaged from at least, I understand the colors of the rainbow with the search opportunist hats that one can wear. 
Ok, partly due to the fact that I find our approach to SEO effective. I havent often found myself in the position of needing to resort to such tactics because if it aint broke? Dont fix it. Sure, it may not be the fastest way to grow rankings, but ultimately provides greater long term stability and enables relationships with the market through actually building a quality offering (worth linking to). 
researching niches, competitors and other business intelligence. So do I want to be dealing with Spam in the course of my travels? No
and I consider myself a fairly advanced searcher. For those that are still struggling with the technology, I can only imagine the frustration. 
Just like any business decision there needs to be an open understanding of the risks vs the rewards of any action.. There is a certain mega software company that has decided that it's better for them to pay the daily fines rather than change their business model to suit the people that want them changed..
Is it wrong or just a smart business decision?? Besides, last time I looked the search engines weren't creating laws, they were creating rules to make their job of indexing and organizing the data on the internet easier.. I'm not entirely convinced that I should make it my job to make their job easier..