There has been one hell of a contraversial post on SEOmoz regarding link directories this week, and Rand Fishkin’s attitude toward certain companies who have used them to rank on the term ‘SEO Company’.
You can read the post here: SEO Company Search Results: An Embarrasment to Google and the Other Engines
Rand seems to be suggesting that because Google has removed the ’submit links to relevant directories’ bullet point from it’s Webmaster Guidelines that this is now bad practice, and Google should not reward behaviour that goes against the ideal ‘good, relevant content + natural links’ dream.
While I agree that Google should not reward behaviour which contradicts it’s guidlines, I think this post is a bit of an over reaction. Google removing that point from the Webmaster Guidelines does not mean they have flip-flopped on directory submission, and are now discouraging it. Yes, it may herald a change in the way they value links from directories, but it does not immediately mean they will poo poo them.
Ultimately the example picked is a bad one, as while the company in question has fairly uniform anchor text, and have used poor quality directories, the links are relevant (as they are an SEO company). It seems that this has been made into a moral issue, rather than a technical one, which has muddied the waters.
The post even admits:
“Sadly, while what they’re engaging in may not technically be black hat, it is certainly not the kind of SEO I’d like to see rewarded”
And yet this post has been added to the ‘Spamming and Black Hat’ category on the blog?
Ultimately Rand believes that the company has behaved innapropriately, which is fine. However I think it is wrong to turn that into a tirade against them, becuase ultimately they haven’t done anything wrong.
Follow Up Note 30.10.08:
After the mad controversy of this post Scott has moved it into the ‘Google’ category, as the main point of the post is the inconsistency; highlighting the difference between their guidelines and the actual behaviour of the search engine. There is also a clarification/apology from Scott as well, which is appreciated. All in all I think enough’s been said on it the subject now!
