We all know the Google guidelines and the "dos and donts" of SEO and on-line marketing. But is Google actually as clever as it says at spotting violations or is it a case of smoke and mirrors? There are numerous examples of sites ranking that break these guidelines and there are also plenty of contradictions between SEOs ideas about how to gain top rankings.

Here it the fundamental question which all SEOs need to consider....

Q. How clever is Google?

A. Thick as pig sh*t
A. Not clever at all and what they say and recommend isnt usually correct or worth considering.
A. They are more or less spot on with what they say and how they act.
A. They are cleverer than they make out but like to keep this from us.
A. They are light years beyond the public perception.

The reason i ask is based on the conflicting advice i hear from SEOs all the time. One SEO does not recommend something but another does and they generally fall into three categories white, grey and black. The white hat guys would call the black hat guys fools and vice versa. So who's right?

Hi,

It is a hard one to judge - up until last year I have had their backs in terms of what they say on their guidelines and how well they monitor the stuff they preach.

However, a prime example is the paid links - I hate(d) paid links and those who practise it and also have on more than one occasion called paid linkers fools and that Google will catch them at it, that Google works with NASA and that it has algorithms Stephen Hawking would have trouble working out...I think I was wrong.

I have been guilty on an occasion of using their "dob-a-competitor-in-for-paid-linking" tool, and had proof of paid links, but no action was ever taken and in fact their ranking has increased over the last 9 months. I reported it more than once.

That incident has made me "trial" paid linking in some capacity with a site that is not important in terms of if it gets sandboxed and, I hate to say, the site has performed consitently well since this time...

I'm not promoting paid linking as there are many ways to get decent links without this method of pure manipulation, but they need to practice what they preach...

...so this side of Google isn't working and there are obvious ways to see pay linking - especially if someone is advising them of this!!!

There are things I'm sure they are on the ball with and it is no doubt, with the resources they have, but this is my example of where they are not so on the ball.

Cheers,

Misch

Shawn and all - all things are maths - from David Beckham taking a corner kick to tree felling. All are based on equations -with Google this is why Content, is, was, has and always will be King - it's 'cache'

This morning some nice person bought my book because they wanted to know about Daniel Defoe's debt problems.  They searched it and found my page by URL title - and the debt problem by content.

Three or 4 years ago I had a site drop from #1 to #21. I checked dozens of datacenters and saw the same results. I waited about two weeks to see if it was a temporary glitch, but the results didn't change. I then sent Google an email asking if the site was penalized for any reason. I didn;t get a response back, but within 48 hours the site was #1 again.

It could have been a coincidence, but I tend to think they responded to my inquiry.

I think Google wouuld be the first to admit they haven't got it right yet but their philosophy of delivering quality relevant 'product' to their user base is right on and makes SEO easy to understand and perform.  Give Google what they want to deliver to their users and you're on the right track.



I don't agree with this at all, I don't think the distinction is between white and black or whatever, it's between long term and short term results.  My reasoning is that Google don't want us to do SEO at all, they don't want us artificially trying to create the conditions that they favour with high rankings, they want it to occur naturally if the page deserves it and for no other reason.  They say "would you do it if there were no search engines?" and if the answer is no then they don't want you to do it.  That being the case, ALL SEO is black hat.

It's like saying that embezzlement is 'white hat' crime and mugging is 'black hat', it's all crime at the end of the day.

Interesting!!! Nice one! 

1. Which SEOs are you are talking about? Are you talking about those popular ones? 
2. Do you as an SEO rely on the advises of other SEOs? Then you have a problem Matt.

1. I'm talking about every seo... not specific ones.

2. No, of course not.

John, im not sure if its just due to your poor english or what but your posts always seem to have veiled insults which ruin the conversation.

Why dont you stay on topic?