chiyo - 6:15 am on Apr 30, 2003 (gmt 0)

>>And remember the common SEO saying that it's spam if your competitor is ahead of you; it's great SEO if you're ahead of your competitor. <<

yes its common, and a good way to motivate staff and get them concentrating on positives and negatives - but wrong.

it could be that site is actualy better in non SEO areas like content, usability and value.

we all have a responsibility as people who make a living out of the web to ensure that what the actual searchers see in SERPS are useful and as devoid of spam as possible. Otherwise people will just stop visiting and using the Web and nobody will read your stuff anyway.

Trying to outspam or ourseo your competitors may work for a short time, but not for a long time. The logical long result is more spam, or more sites that are there because of good SEO rather than good utility, value, quality or content.

Thats why i report what i see as spam - but leave it up the SE to decide for their puposes whether it reall is. Yes im a white hat, but for good reason other than being a complainer. We have to approach it both ways