Diary of a Market Hacker

To Compete or not to Compete

 A friend asked me about link building systems.  Specifically, he wanted to know if the email he got from an SEO firm for link building was “fooling Google”.

I want to make sure you understand that this technique is considered “black hat” by some and Google too.  If Google were to actually recognize and take the time to investigate the site using it then it’s likely that the site would incur a penalty and possibly loose search results in Google’s listings or be banned outright.   Though, Google (Matt Cutts) also states that there’s “almost” nothing that someone can do to harm a sites ranking.   Well, if I can link to a site using a link building system without the site owner knowing and Google will punish sites for using such a system…   You’re seeing contradiction right?  I could also report the site to Google for buying links.

The problem for entrepreneurs and business owners is…

Unless you have someone actively writing articles and content, doing PR work and communicating online and on the phone consistently you have no other way to climb to the top of the pile in a large competitive market.   At least not while maintaining reasonable cost and time investment, in my opinion.  All your link building really *should* be natural coming from other people writing and talking about you.  However, unless you have a small PR team/person or plenty of extra time, I don’t see that happening.  And, if those others don’t talk, Google would assume you just go out of business.  …After all, to them you don’t appear to provide any value.  Be cognizant of the fact that the Google search index is owned by Google and they can do whatever they want with it.  They DO decide what is good and “evil” (their words not mine) based on their own needs and desires.   For an entrepreneur and business owner, the priority is growing and thriving in business.  It is certainly not to maintain Google’s pristine search listing and to keep the Internet as they wish it to be.   So, to compete, the option is do what it takes and possibly pay the piper for being naughty or follow the Google rules, pay the piper, hope and simply fail if you don’t get to the top.  It’s a scary choice.