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While you billed this as a rant, it's more of a public service announcement. There are unsuspecting people who don't even realize that they may be dabbling in something shady. And they're the ones who are going to suffer when the rug gets pulled out from underneath them.
This IS AMAZING!! Thank you so much for your courage! Why? I came across this site a couple of weeks ago as it blasted into the SEO space (2 bloggers actually gave them a positive review-tsk,tsk) so I attended their webinar. 10 minutes into this webinars with 3 pros, my chin hit the floor, are they for real? They proposed a very unnatural, old fashioned, manipulated link building approach (actually scratch that- it is not link building at all!). I was infuriated but also very discouraged. Now, when we are all working so hard to do great SEO thinking and practice, this is an insult to website owners! Yes, I'm still mad. But, unlike you I was afraid to say anything and only shared this with my team. Thank you for highlighting this site, describing it so clearly, and modelling your confidence for us. (would be interested in your thoughts on: http://kaiserthesage.com/trust-marketing-seo/ @jasonacidre and @melanienathan and http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2144350/Future-of-SEO-Change-Convergence-Collaboration @andybetts1) With all the committment and strength in the SEO community, businesses have a lot of great, ethical, organic options! Okay- now I am ranting- enough of that:) You, however, keep up your ranting!
I agree. PSA as opposed to rant. Unfortunately, the ones who get taken by these Black Hat schemes are often that can least afford it. Based on the G+ post comments, it looks like Darren saved at least some of them some $.
real question is which 'monster seo' site is he talking about... ;) And yes people are gullible as hell and that's our fault? lol
No but it gives other SEO's a bad name.
I hate to say it, but sometimes we bring it upon ourselves. Look at this final statement by Darren, "Invest your time into building a site that matters to your readers over the long haul - then you'll build something that lasts longer than Google's next algorithm change." We know this isn't true. We know that good sites get pounded by the likes of Panda or anti-affiliate updates, regardless of quality. This type of over-simplification of our industry is just as bad, in my opinion, as the black hat stuff. Now I know Darren does more and you can't expect people to lay out a complete strategy in every blog post, but the problem with black hat solutions is intrinsic - it is not dependent upon there being a better solution, merely that the black hat solution is wrong in and of itself.
Awesome comment here, completely agree. It's not just Darren Rowse coming off this way, though. It's the majority of SEO "celebs". It's unfortunate that it has grown to a nearly religious level, where any non-standard play is a sin, and shouldn't be discussed anywhere, just ignored and denied of it's possible effectiveness. I'm not advocating blackhat, greyhat, anyhat, etc. techniques, just that it may be beneficial for some to avoid closing their eyes and screaming "lalalala" in ignorance.
Yes, exactly, it seems a lot of SEO gurus just ignore this stuff actually works. The 3 people pushing the link network Darren is discussing own multiple networks, some of them still going and with a lot of happy customers. They are simply buying up dropped domains or other people's sites and running through short drivel posts with links to money sites. The money sites are awful, paper thin affiliate sites, yet everyone is making money. You have to wonder why is this working if the Google algorithm has supposedly moved past all these dodgy tactics and sites that invest in "quality content" get hammered in the rankings.