A Good Accountant or a Blackhat Spammer SEO
September 1st, 2007 by Michael Gray in Grayhat SEOIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Read my top posts or learn more about Michael Gray. Want more frequent updates follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!
So here’s a question for the Jason Calacanis’s and Robert Scoble’s of the world. Why is an accountant who knows the regulation and codes and takes advantage of tax loopholes that save you thousands of dollars each year good, But SEO’s who take advantages of loopholes and flaws in Google’s algorithm to bring you traffic that makes you thousands of dollars bad?
Please don’t respond or reply that Google’s guidelines or terms of service are in any way equivalent to the law. Google dictates policy for it’s own index not the internet as whole, yes there is a difference …
Sphere It
September 1st, 2007 at 6:28 am
You are on target here. Google … and I love Google in many ways … I’m no Googlephobe … should lose the “Sunday school morals” act and just do what they do best.
As you point out, not only does the IRS allow tax avoidance without penalty, they even officially state to the world that, while “tax evasion” … breaking the law … is a crime, “Tax avoidance” … minimizing taxes by any legal means … is the right and privilege of every tax payer.
Google … at least as evidenced by your friend and mine, Matt Cutts, seems to get themselves hung up on trying to “read” a user’s “intention”. The user’s actions deserve scrutiny, the user’s intentions are the user’s own prerogatives.
It’s ludicrous to act as if buying links, as just one example, is “wrong’ or that it makes a site less relevant. The fact that someone invests in buying exposure is an indication of the seriousness of the link buyer’s efforts, no less than the user selecting keywords, posting relevant comments that attract links or any of the other ‘white hat” techniques. If GM buys 4 ads in a car magazine and Ford buys 2 ads, does that make Ford more or less “relevant” than GM?
A car company or a website is not “relevant” in any real-world sense. Either one is an entity that tries to make money by providing what the user wants and buying exposure to get the potential client in the door is just one of many recognized, legitimate business practices.
Google is a search engine, not a public conscience.
September 1st, 2007 at 8:10 am
I would do compare Google’s guidelines with the IRS’ federal income tax, but there is one big difference: You will be like dead in the water if Google “shoots “at you, but dead for real if the IRS does it.
I hope that I don’t give Google the wrong ideas and have them think about enforcing their guidelines at gun point
… remove the hidden text from this page or else… hehe
September 1st, 2007 at 10:01 am
Great analogy… I’m quite sure Calacanis has a sharp accountant. It’s just that bitching about tax avoidance doesn’t help him promote his business model.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I like the train of thought lately. Keep it up.
September 1st, 2007 at 1:29 pm
I don’t know why Big G thinks it has the right to determine how you market to your customer. If you’re providing what the user is looking for and saving them the time of having to do tons of research then bingo your job is well done.
September 1st, 2007 at 5:38 pm
I would say a normal accountant is like your general web master knows a little will get you site up there and it will work. It might not be the best return/result but it gets done.
A black hat SEO is the same as an account that pushes dodgy tax schemes, like offshore accounts/plantations things that look like good schemes but not proven then can come back in a few years and really bite you in the butt. In the web you can just drop the site and move to a new one. In the real world your in a lot more trouble.
A great white hat SEO is what you count as a good accountant. They know where the boundaries are. They will push the limits to get the best results. But in a manner that will work for you in the long term and will not come to bite you in the butt a few years latter.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Some great points, Michael. You may have heard of Lawrence Lessig, the famous lawyer who’s all into the internet. One of his basic ideas is that code is law. Google really IS a defacto “government” in many ways. Their hypocrisy lately really pisses me of.
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I think i’ll go with what Nicholas says… there are blackhat SEOs doing bad things that, if they were accountants you wouldn’t want to get involved in. Then there are probably some whitehat SEPs who are pushing the envelope a little but probably won’t get you in too much trouble–keyword being probably!
j
September 2nd, 2007 at 1:30 pm
I like that analogy. And I’ve been holding that no matter what blackhat methodology you use, your goal is to unite your content to those who it is relevant to. Every site has a right to gain exposure, it’s up to the visitor to determine the value, not a third party.
September 4th, 2007 at 8:44 am
When you put it like that … where is my gray cap?
September 4th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Dead on, Wolf. Great analogy. I don’t agree that businesses should set-up shop on an offshore island to keep from paying taxes, but they ARE following the law. The loophole is the problem. It’s all the morality talk that kills me. I drive 70 in a 55 speed limit every single day, does that make me a “black hat driver”?
September 5th, 2007 at 8:50 am
you have a point, Accounts are pretty evil. keeping the rich richer and all that. makes me currious why accountants have such a good name?
September 5th, 2007 at 3:04 pm
Who says that an accountants who use loopholes to make sure people don’t pay their taxes is so good?
September 6th, 2007 at 9:36 am
“Who says that an accountants who use loopholes to make sure people don’t pay their taxes is so good?”
If he’s saving my money, I’d say he’s good.
September 7th, 2007 at 10:38 am
Interesting point for sure, I think a good accountant just as a good SEO frim must know exactly where the line turns from Gray to Black. A great accountant stops you when you approach that black line the line that carries serious consequences. This great accountant will give their client a complete understanding of the risk/reward of walking the line.
I guess it comes down to the old argument of is it a black and white world? Or are there various shades of gray.
September 7th, 2007 at 11:00 am
As long as a loophole is not closed the SEO and the accountant are doing a good job by taking advantage of it. The difference is that lawmakers advertise that they are closing a loophole, but Google does not.
I guess a good SEO (whitehat or blackhat) distinguishes himself/herself by keeping a tab on closing loopholes and has other methods available for when that happens.