SEO Malpractice: Things an SEO firm should NEVER do.

Have you ever noticed what we offer here at EricOnSearch? What I want you to notice today is what we DON’T OFFER. Even what we counsel you to avoid. Some of these things seem to be gaining popularity with some other firms and it is time to let folks who hire them know how damaging it can be. One such case seems to be the trend towards having people (on your behalf) drop spammy comments on blogs with YOUR name on them. Here’s a great post on the subject by Dave Smith, who is a friend and fellow blogger. (For the record…dropping spammy comment

In the comments, another friend, Jay Thompson points out that he is seeing this as well. He approaches buying blog comments as a waste of money. My assessment is based on the damage it does to your reputation WITHIN your industry.

Have you noticed that we are a Search Engine Marketing COACHING company? Will I build you a blog? SURE. Will I consult with you on best practices? SURE. Will I assist you in developing an effective campaign for building your presence online.YEP. Will I coach you on how to build relationships online and thus grow in authority and as a result, links? DARN RIGHT. BUT….

What I will not do is do ANYTHING under your name. Maybe you don’t care about your online reputation, but it is FAR more likely that you are not aware of the consequences of spamming blogs and all of the negative consequences. Your reputation online is the SAME as offline. You may not be aware of it yet…but one day those two reputations will meet…and it won’t be pretty.

In the case of REALTORS:

Maybe you are talking to an agent at a conference and they recognize you as the author of TONS of spam.

Maybe you get a REAL email from a friend from elsewhere in the country, asking “Why did you do this to my blog?”

Maybe Google will penalize your site for something “you” did…and you will say “but I didn’t” and they will say ‘Hmm…here’s your name.”

The bottomline: Your reputation is YOURS to MAKE or BREAK. So is MINE. It should never be for rent to any firm just to get you to the top of the search engines. Managing your online reputation is a job for you alone, in my opinion.

I will be posting some more SEO malpractice posts here as a public service to those who may be misled…