Fine, I used to be one. That was before I realised how much money the G god makes out of having something to index. And giving them something to index is my job. So in reality I’m helping them make money and yet according to the puritanical white hats I’m supposed to be totally blinkered and never, ever, ever, ever try to game the system? Are you serious?

Google and every other commercial search engine is just that - commercial. They sell ads, they make money, good for them. I have no problem with that whatsoever. It’s what capitalism is all about.

But to then turn around and act as the keepers of all things true and good - it just gets me sometimes.

G says Don’t Buy Links - well, why not? They sell links don’t they? What is a PPC ad if not a link? It’s a link, people click it, G gets money, the advertiser hopefully gets a new customer, everyone’s happy. So why should they tell us not to do ad sales on our own sites in any way, shape or form that we see fit? It’s my site! I can do what I bl**dy well like.

G says Don’t Create Content for Search Engines, Write for People - Ok, now, I happen to agree with this one but only because I happen to know it’s one and the same thing - at the least the way I do it. You could argue (just cause I’m in a mood) that creating content for search engines is good for people and therefore you should only create content for search engines! So there!

The Self-Labelled White Hats say Don’t Do Anything at all ever just for the sake of search engines. Again, against my better judgement this is a rule I generally follow not because search engines are something hollowed and sacred but because designing sites in a user friendly manner with well structured navigation and keyword rich content is both second nature and good business.

BUT - and that’s a very, very big BUT - if search engines weren’t part of the equation do you honestly for a minute think that people would have been so ready to forsake Flash or other difficult to index technologies in favour of boring, old fashioned, easily spiderable code? Do you think so much time, effort and attention would be spent on ensuring that sites are W3 compliant and that meta tagging was all correct and accounted for? Give me a break.

The irony is that most tanned-to-black hat search engine marketers who know me would consider me a straight up white hat SEO puritan (I don’t do anything on Google’s no no list). The difference is that I no longer worship at the G god’s feet or think it’s a all knowing, all seeing, all loving deity. It’s a commercial organisation for Pete’s sake! They’re not hippies or even yuppies. They’re not trying to make the world a better place or save starving children or start a new religion. They make money, they horn in on anything that’s gaining prominence, they are out to rule the world (well, that might be taking it a bit far but this is a rant in case you haven’t noticed). And as long as they continue to give my sites prominent placement I’m happy to go along with it. But don’t tell me to be puritanical and not have impure thoughts or it’ll displease Google. It’s not my god and I really don’t care!