[cbscreative]

With all due respect, David, this is why there are people who specialize in AdWords, PPC, etc. I am not one of them, so you don't need to write me off as one of those people getting kickbacks from Google. I know enough about these topics to bring in a specialist if I were advising a client wanting to use these and not waste money. As I see it, you are trying to do the job of a specialist and then getting mad at Google for not making it more obvious to you.

As for us crooks who do SEO, you can keep believing that, but there are plenty of people hiring these crooks who are making good money doing it. Yes, some of them are crooks, but I hope you won't assume the entire industry is corrupt. It's too bad contractors don't have hacks that make your industry look bad because then you might be more likely to understand what us web guys have to deal with.

 

[cbscreative]

And yes SEO are all crooks...
if left unchecked all of the above will seek out its victims.

Don't worry, I'm used to that perception, so I'm not the least bit offended by it.

While you are right about the crooks seeking out victims, if you offer something of value, people will seek you.

 

[cbscreative]

I'm pretty sure what JV meant by the drop by Google over time is days and weeks, not hours. Since this is an active thread, it's going to keep climbing until it dies down.

Check it in a month or two, better yet, 4-6 months (put it on your to do list while you are educating yourself on SEO).

 

[cbscreative]

David, you'll get no argument from me about the stupid stuff some people do in the name of SEO. I'm an admin for a small biz forum, and I'm sure the admins and mods here would agree with what I am about to say. Forums have to deal with all kinds of stupidity from people using lame SEO tactics. Most of their methods are very obvious to an experienced mod or admin, but we also need to be vigilant about the more cunning ones.

I've seen plenty of cases where when you track forum spam back far enough, the trail leads to a so called SEO company trying to link build for their clients. I feel sorry for the clients who were taken in by these scammers. The lesson here is be very careful who you hire for SEO and what methods they use.

This has been said by other members here, but should be repeated again: You don't have to become an expert on SEO because you already have a contractor business to run, but you do need to become well informed enough to avoid being taken in by snake oil.