I knew it was just a matter of time. As soon as Google announced that they wanted people to spy on their competitors and tell the search engine who was buying links, this was bound to happen. Of course, such practices have been going on online since the early days. Now, because of the added competitiveness of the Internet, you can expect it to happen more often.
The practice of which I’m speaking is called Google Bowling. Your competitors can set up a large number of websites that appear to be link farms and link directly to your website using your important keyword phrases. Then, they’ll report your for “buying links” and watch as your website drops in rank and loses traffic. It’s evil, it’s nasty, and it’s cut throat. Will it stand up to scrutiny?
Likely not. I expect to see a few lawsuits on this in the future. Whenever a big business loses standing with Google or Yahoo and loses traffic, not to mention revenue gained from that traffic, and it comes to light that the individuals responsible were an up-and-coming competitor then all hell will break loose. The courts will be forced to decide whether it’s a legitimate business practice. That will raise all kinds of questions:
- How many websites can a business set up on the same topic without engaging in antitrust practices?
- Will SEO for the sole purpose of hurting one’s competition in the search engines become an illegal activity?
- If a specific SEO technique provides positive benefits while simultaneously affecting one’s competition negatively will it still be viewed as an unethical activity?
There is no limit to the ways in which a business can help itself with SEO, or hurt a major competitor. The big question is when will it start to affect the social order?
