Comments on: To Everyone’s Surprise Google Says "Sure, Go Ahead" To Swapping +1 Clicks For Content

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:11:30 +0000

In reply to Bob.

Ruud – some SEO circles, not all SEO circles. Some will whine about “ethic”, some will admire cleverness. It’s all about risk management – it’s business which means you do anything you can (within law boundaries) to get an advantage over competition. Some companies (SEO agencies clients) don’t want to get involved in that kind of SEO tactis, the others will embrace them. We both know it’s true.

By: Rana Shahbaz

Rana Shahbaz — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:29:34 +0000

In reply to Joe Hall.

100% agreed Joe

By: Ruud Hein

Ruud Hein — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:20:42 +0000

In reply to Jeff Loquist.

Absolutely! Both Joe and Alan were amazing in calling this out for what it was.

By: Jeff Loquist

Jeff Loquist — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 22:21:43 +0000

I’m honestly not surprised by this at all from Google. I think – and more so in the recent past – that as a company they have shown that their self-interest is much more important than the interests of their users. As a company Google REALLY wants to get into the social arena and so allowing companies to SPAM their users (which is exactly what they were doing) falls right in line with their recent actions.

And Good on Joe Hall for calling them out on it.

By: Ruud Hein

Ruud Hein — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:32:47 +0000

In reply to Cleofe Betancourt.

Cleofe, I can’t help but find myself agreeing with you. Definitely a realistic projection.

By: Ruud Hein

Ruud Hein — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:31:44 +0000

In reply to Bob.

This is the kind of thing that can harm your reputation in some SEO circles; thing is that the SEO world is much larger than the people you and I know. Right now hundreds of SEO’s have no idea about this incident — let alone prospects.

By: Ruud Hein

Ruud Hein — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:30:26 +0000

In reply to Aussiewebmaster.

As an entrance it’s great. As a misrepresentation (a “spam blocker”) it’s borderline sneaky. I have no problem with a beautiful graphic CTA saying “help us rank: click here”. Or: “support the cause: click +1” etc.

By: Cleofe Betancourt

Cleofe Betancourt — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:00:37 +0000

Not surprised that Google would initially allow this SEO company to game their +1 button because, well, they need to. At least initially. While marketing professionals see the potential value of the +1 to their marketing efforts, people outside of the industry have been cool to the Google Plus movement.

So, big “G” initially allows agencies to game their button, then expresses outrage down the line and reverses course once G+ is more established. The agencies are left dealing with the fallout. Is this white hat? Black hat? Plus-hat? Who can say?

Conspiracy? Yep. Plausible? 100%

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 08:40:02 +0000

This is pure genius in action – I’m serious. They not only got a lot of +1’s almost for free, but they also knew when to step back and get away with “booty” (+1’s in this case) without harming their reputation too much.

By: Aussiewebmaster

Aussiewebmaster — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 04:04:06 +0000

I actually like the use here – not as a spam blocker but as an entrance to the content – tell people the click gets them in – then have a box at the bottom that says unclick if you did not like the content…

we have Facebook etc sign ins now – anyone that is not a Facebook user may sign up for Facebook so obviously FB does not mind this being used… so why not G+