In today’s edition of ‘the Tired and Weary’ I have a little piece about Spam being alive and well in the world of Google. Sure, anyone that is heavily into SEO knows this already, but it can always use a little highlighting.

I ran into a post on John Chow’s site called - Spammer Make Fools of Google – which highlights some of the work left to be done by Google and the other engines. If you want a great example of duplicate content and link spam filters not working together – this is it.

Quote - "Mark Moore, President of MetalBuildingDepot.com, wanted to hit the number one spot for “metal buildings” in Google and rank for thousands of other industry terms such as “steel buildings”, metal garages, etc. What did Mark do to achieve this? He (or someone he hired) “spamdex” his site to the top by using an estimated 6000 plus domains all with an identical, duplicated, replicated web site template and exact same content in all of them."

In this day and age you’d hope things like this didn’t happen, but really.. some are going to get through. Strangely they should have everything in place to deal with such simplistic spamming – so how’s it happening? I think G is counting on PEOPLE ( a-la MySpace/YouTube ) to do their work for them in the form of reporting and not enough is being achieved to fight spam from a technology standpoint.

I still say they need more emphasis on properly identifying and weighting Link Profiles. They created the pigeon hole that is ‘Link Reliance’ within their ranking mechanisms. So they need to use that 'trap' more effectively.

Anyways.. just a quick rant.. I’m Gone!

I know a thing or two about bullies. I was a bit of a geeky kid that got the crap kicked out of him on a regular basis. By early high school I had finally ‘lost it’ and started fighting back ( I studied martial arts from around 11 years old). I was never a bully myself, but I trashed enough of them that I was thrown out of a few high schools permanantly. But that is another story – he he

The trend of SEOs all banding together to harass anyone or anything they don’t like on the internet is becoming a concern for me. Simply because they have the power to generate a TON of bad press towards something, doesn’t mean they should use that weapon as they see fit. Just because the bully CAN beat you up doesn’t give him the RIGHT to do so.

MyBlogLog, Pasternack and Calcainis - Oh My!

There are more than a few instances of late, and for those whom haven’t been playing along at home, we have had the Pasternack affair, Calcainis spouts off and the recent MyBlogLog tussle. I am certainly not even interested in giving my side or feelings on them… do you know why? Because I could care less. There will always be detractors of any industry and websites that screw up with their decision making. So what?

Let's get this straight

I feel a RANT coming on here people – be ready to duck. I was making the rounds and ended up on Danny’s Daily SearchCast and a reference to a list of ‘possible’ Google penalties and filters on Joe Whyte’s site. This is where the blood began to boil.

WTF is with SEO folks and their incessant need to pigeon-hole every little theory no matter how silly or even illogical it is. While I am a fan of search technologies, I think it’s been agreed it isn’t ‘rocket science’. It certainly doesn’t need to be filled up with unnecessary mythologies and misdirection.

I have re-organized the list from it’s original form and added MY interpretations of these so-called ‘Penalties and Filters’.

I decided to start a new series called ‘Bad SEO’ – to highlight what to look for and funny anecdotes about encounters with some ..er.. uh.. not-so-professional Search Engine Optimization providers out there. I am certainly NOT going to start ‘outing’ people (naming offenders) – simply posting chronicles as a warning to the consumer; and a good laugh for the professional (hard working) SEO craftsperson. ‘Tis borne from unfortunate tales and wary consumers all in need of reassurance.

So I say to all you SEO Hacks out there – the Reality Train is a comin’ – Get off the tracks or get run over.

12 Step Program - Things you DON’T want to see on a SEO provider’s website;
<< Much of this rant is based on a REAL SEO site/provider, tho a few are JUST ME ranting – let the debate begin! >>

Here we go...