By profession we, SEOs, always have to compete. That’s an integral part of our daily routine: we come to work and check how our sites are doing compared to our SERPs competitors. Then we scratch our heads thinking how we can outrank them. And at the same time we need to constantly look out for those new guys that might be aiming at outranking us.
In this sense SEO is the most dynamic business I’m aware of. Of course, competition exists in any field but nowhere else things change so quickly as in SEO. That’s actually one of the main reasons why I like our profession so much – that’s its dynamics that never lets me get bored.
Unfortunately, this competition can not always be fair. Your competitors might be successfully using some greyish, grey or black tactics you can’t afford. In this case you can’t fight them unless Google catch them. So my main question is: do you ever report your competitors’ illegitimate tactics to Google?
I can explain why this seems so controversial issue to me.
It feels right because:
- we all seek fair competition where we all play according to the same set of rules (everyone should be penalized for hitting below the belt);
- no matter what, but the guys break Google’s law and most probably the site using black tactics can’t be a valuable resource for the end surfer – so thus we are making the Internet better.
It feels not right because:
- whatever you might say, SEO is mostly about tricking a search engine, we are all (Ok, I’ll be talking only for myself – I am) guilty of trying some greyish tactics (e.g. buying links that are not evident sold links), so am I fair to myself and other SEOs punishing people for doing what I would (probably) do if I were braver?
- in my opinion, Google often doesn’t play the fair game it tries to promote – so do we really need to help it?
Your thoughts would be highly appreciated.
Image source: The mountain
