Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
[mattcutts.com...]
He shows how (web) spammers work, what they try to do and how they do it. More importantly, the mistakes they make, how to follow their footprints and how to prevent their attacks.
He also stresses that Google does recognize the difference between SEO and spammers:
I’ve always meant to do a post to say that search engine optimization (SEO) is not spam and that Google doesn’t hate SEO, but I never seem to get around to it. This presentation gave me a chance to slip those facts into the minds of several thousand tech-savvy folks.
Not true. Case in point: 950 Penalty. Cutts called it an "overoptimization" penalty. SEO = Search Engine Optimization. Many legitimate websites which were visited by thousands of users for many years were smashed by Google because it hates webmasters who do SEO and/or can't discern the difference between SEO and Spam. There are so many basic ways to distinguish SEO'd sites from spam, but Cutts' team couldn't do it.
p/g
You can find Whitehat SEOs...
Arrrggghhh! Another one adding fuel to the damn hat nomenclature. We don't need that Matt, we really don't. That's just as bad as saying that SEO is Spam.
Whitehat this, Blackhat that. What's up with that?
And, what exactly does that video tell you that the "average" person didn't already know? I'll bet that was a Baby Boomer audience he was speaking too. :)
That's just as bad as saying that SEO is Spam.
IMO... I feel Matt took pains in his presentation to be very respectful of SEOs. Probably another twenty seconds would have soothed your misgivings.
There were some schemes he talked about, though, which did come from purported SEOs... the kind of operators we all like to distance ourselves from... and that differentiation (between good and bad practices) required some sort of a label to introduce the topic. I'm tired of hats too. This video was mostly about some absurdly simple specifics.
I don't think the video was aimed at a WebmasterWorld-level audience. This was Spam-101... very elementary stuff. It didn't answer most of my questions. ;)
For me the most interesting thing about the video was to see a video lecture on the web in a window as large as this player was with such good video quality.
Probably another twenty seconds would have soothed your misgivings.
Nah, as soon as I see the "hat" nomenclature, my level of respect diminishes considerably. Matt continues to perpetrate the use of the term. In doing so, all the Cuttlets then follow suit. There's this whole cult surrounding him, its unbelievable. They have their own name too, "Cuttlets".
Watching that video kind of took me down memory lane. That could have aired in 1996. If that is all they know about web spam, we have some serious issues afoot. :)
because it hates webmasters who do SEO and/or can't discern the difference between SEO and Spam.
It's where that line is drawn that causes so much anxiety around here. But that happens because people pretending to do SEO (who are really spammers) keep trying to find that line. SEO professionals don't have to even worry about the line.
I stopped the video right after the slide where it reads...You can find Whitehat SEOs...Arrrggghhh! Another one adding fuel to the damn hat nomenclature. We don't need that Matt, we really don't. That's just as bad as saying that SEO is Spam.
I recall Matt replying [mattcutts.com] to similar concerns of a SEO, as follows:
... I’m comfortable with SEO being whitehat/blackhat; I don’t think you’d get many blackhats to say “I don’t do SEO; I do spam!”
