Comments on: SEO, Colored Hats & The Pollyanna Pissing Match

By: tyler

tyler — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 18:53:04 +0000

great post. saw you at the blogworld conference.
things have changed much since then.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:23:42 +0000

@Lee: I was thinking about your SEO Celebrity post LITERALLY while I was on the podium. (Not that I think of myself that way). The only problem with SMX Advanced was for those who didn’t go and missed out on so many wonderful speakers. Thanks for stopping by.

By: Lee

Lee — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 04:41:21 +0000

Well done Marty and I still think the tendency for people to blurt tactics to get attention at events or online is still nothing more than the fallacy of SEO celebrity. Blurt, whine, and pontificate publicly while others are laughing (with clients) all the way to the bank.

By: Chadwyck

Chadwyck — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 18:20:53 +0000

Really excellent points and an amazing vocabulary

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:39:52 +0000

@evilgreenmonkey: Now we know your evilGreenSecrets :). For our readers, look for coverage of Rob’s “Give it Up” session coming on July 4th/5th.

By: Marty Weintraub

Marty Weintraub — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:36:40 +0000

@Danny: Thanks for that. Now I understand. You’re saying that you would find it embarrassing if someone new to our industry encountered the gray/black discussion with no prior knowledge of the overall integrity of the community, which most would agree is quite high.

In snapshot, SMX might not have been fully representative…just like your “embarrassing” comment on Bruce Clay might may been taken out of context by some.

@Daria Goetsch: Thank you for stopping by and lending perspective regarding understanding competitors.

@Andy: It may not have been advanced for you :). It would be fun to see you speak. Thanks, as always, for stopping by.

By: evilgreenmonkey

evilgreenmonkey — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 21:15:36 +0000

Excellent points and I fully agree, SMX Advanced wouldn’t we Advanced without Grey/Black Hat techniques at least being discussed.

By: Andy Beard

Andy Beard — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:56:42 +0000

Marty good to see some fighting spirit.

I must admit the coverage I have read so far didn’t seem as “advanced” as I expected - looking forward to the content under embargo

By: Daria Goetsch

Daria Goetsch — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 20:52:29 +0000

Marty, great post. I wasn’t at SMX (wish I could have been) but have been to enough conferences to know how important it is to have a wide variety of information available to our industry. If the session speakers stated ahead that some tactics might be grey/black hat then I don’t see a problem with it. I’m pretty white hat overall having been an in-house SEO and also running my own SEO company. In both situations any information I had available as to what techniques to use or *not use* was helpful. If your competitor is using advanced grey/black hat tactics against you I would think you would want to know how to identify and deal with it. If you are talking advanced SEO then it only stands to reason both sides of the coin should be presented with disclaimers as needed and attendees deciding what works and doesn’t work for them.

By: Danny Sullivan

Danny Sullivan — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 19:45:25 +0000

Marty, I did comment later in the same thread that I was also very proud of the speakers that stepped up and performed so well — and I have to apologize again to any of the speakers that very dissed or abandoned by my “embarrassed” comment. I tried to explain later that it is embarrassing if you have a newbie think you’re expecting them to do some of the things that were described. I wasn’t expecting newbies at the show at all; I certainly wasn’t expecting that I needed to help people understand the different between opinions and making their own educated choices, not for this particular show. But clearly I need to do more on that front and will.