Mom + SEO Junkie = Burnt Toast

I love schtick comedy - I posted before about History of the World Part 1 and recently had a little daydream about Monty Python’s “Search for the Holy Grail” and paid links….just go with me, people.

Analogy time (aka. What I learned in photoshop class…….)

A group of people is moving down the road and they pass a few signs that say “dont go this way” and “road closed ahead” (aka - google’s warnings about paid links) but they keep walking in the same direction….eventually they get to the “roadblock” which in our analogy is a “harmless little bunny rabbit.”

They think about it - and then move forward - it’s just a harmless little bunny rabbit, right?

WRONG - IT’S GOT FANGS!!!!

We’ve been hearing and reading a lot about the FUD that Google has been breeding - Fear, Uncertainty & Doubt.  I sort of have a hard time “buying in” to that concept - Google isnt the government, they’re not by the people - for the people - so really they can do whatever they want - they’re not Google.ORG - they’re google.com and they’re definitely “for profit.” 

If they say don’t do it….there must be a reason.

For a long time Google (and Matt Cutts) have been saying, “dont buy paid links.”  We were warned, many, many times - and recently Google brought the hammer down. 

Now I dont necessarily think it’s “nice” and in some cases it’s not done judiciously - but really - it’s theirs so they can do what they want - and if we want Google traffic we play by the rules or we have to figure out a way to get around it (ie no follow all the links on your site.)  I think there are sites out there that can survive a major drop in Google traffic - our travel & tourism clients dont fit into that category.

 Moral of the story?  If you want to stay in the Google index, dont piss off the bunny.

THE CAVEAT and a ”glitch?” 

That being said they are still being a bit hypocritical w/ the dont buy paid links but TLA can buy adwords ads - even though Matt Cutts indicated that was a bit fishy during the “Are Paid Links Evil” session at SES San Jose.

Here’s a snap from tonight: