SEO and Comment Spam: A Cautionary Tale

If you’re SEO and social media strategies run afoul of best-practices, you might have a bigger problem than diminished Google rankings: Your brand's reputation might take a very public hit. That's what happened after Adam Singer received this comment at his Future Buzz blog:

"Small businesses should focus more on the quality of their marketing campaigns because consumers are, indeed, conducting more research now than ever before. [Company] has tools that can help you monitor your results and offers insight on your campaign success! Here is a link to some of the [products] from [company]." [Editor's note: We've redacted the company and product names; Singer did not.]

Singer wasn't pleased. "It is inappropriate of you to leave a comment like this when the discussion section is respected by everyone else who contribute thoughtful, valuable comments and not simply try to push their wares," he noted. "You are trying to take but not give."

He approved the comment to make his point, and—hoping to begin a positive conversation—sent a snarky-but-friendly tweet to the offending company. "Thanks … for link spamming my blog comments. You'll provide a great example of what not to do for readers tomorrow."

The company's social media manager sent Singer a conciliatory email about "working to find the right balance between authentic social media engagement and SEO best practices."

It soon became clear, however, that the company was using a "shady" SEO vendor that operated independently of its in-house social media team. "Their separate digital teams clearly have no idea what anyone is doing," says Singer. "Except the Web, of course, sees it all."

The Po!nt: Engage with caution. No matter who makes your SEO decisions, or why they're made, social media