By Jill Whalen
Is making stuff up really part of our job description? What about obtaining links at any cost?
Maybe I’m just not cut out to be a marketer. Certainly not if it involves creating hoaxes to trick the media.
No idea what I’m talking about?
Well, apparently link bait has sunk to a new low. Now it’s all about making up stories and seeing if the press will be dumb enough to think they’re real. Yes, the press is certainly dumb and eager to publish anything that might bring them eyeballs. And yes, there’s a lot of misinformation published every day. And yes, they are certainly to blame when they don’t do any fact checking; but does any of that mean we should just make up whatever we want and that’s that?
The author of the fake news story claims it was written as satire. Yet he got it published on his client’s website, money.co.uk, which publishes actual news stories, not satire. While the story was indeed silly and unbelievable, the fact that it was originally posted on a supposedly reputable website, provided it with the credibility it needed to go hot on Digg as well as to get picked up by tons of mainstream news sites.
If this is where link bait and social media is headed in general, then perhaps I need to rethink my own thoughts about the need for standards in our industry.
There’s a great post by “Kimota” that echoes my sentiments, only much more eloquently!
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Please note that all posts in the SEMNE blog are the opinion of the author and do not necessarily represent the opinion of SEMNE as an organization.
Excellent post. Regardless of where one stands on this issue it’s a very interesting discussion…I find the “they should have checked their sources” argument to be weak because like you pointed out, money.co.uk themselves are publishing the article without any indication of it being untrue, and they ARE the source (in manner of speaking). Saying that it’s up to the new sites to check their sources before publishing a story is simply hypocritical
Kiowa
May 16th, 2008
kimota did a terrific job of sizing it up i agree.
at first, i didn’t think that there needed to be set guidelines (industry standards) as well. but in light of the consequences that can occur, (damaged reps, etc) i am also having a change of heart. this is a difficult one.
spostareduro
May 16th, 2008
It was funny when Negativland did it 20 years ago… but yeah. Lame Lame Lame.
Thanks for the post Jill - Sphunn with all my might.
Dan Thies
May 16th, 2008
[…] like “Social Media is ruined forever” and “SEO sunk to a new low” are preachy, at best. Jill Whalen, you and me go way back from my days at HighRankings, […]
Enough with the SEO Fundamentalism! | Chris Hooley's -ThinkBait-
May 16th, 2008
[…] Have Search Marketers Sunk to a New Low? “Maybe I’m just not cut out to be a marketer. Certainly not if it involves creating hoaxes to trick the media.” […]
Lying Link Bait | Search Marketing Blog from Cincinnati, Ohio
May 16th, 2008
I’m still on the fence on this one. The journalist in me is crying foul, yet the social marketer in me is high-fiving Lyndon’s out of the box thinking. It’s not something I would do for a client though, so maybe I’m not so on the fence after all?
Kalena
May 16th, 2008
Hey Kal,
Not sure I agree that there’s out of box thinking involved.
Jill Whalen
May 16th, 2008
Lyndon showed us something that worked that I certainly didn’t even think about before.
I think I am an old fashioned seo but I liked it.
Probably wouldn’t do it myself though.
Hobo
May 17th, 2008
Hobo, why not?
Jill Whalen
May 17th, 2008
Its just outside my comfort area thats all - comfort doesn’t = ethics though - I don’t think there was anything wrong with it at all and question if there is any ethics in linkbait (cases of hatred, life and death aside). It was a cool bit of linkbait in a competitive industry and a cool story that I think I can learn a bit from (I don’t mean nicking my dads credit card).
As a pure exercise in linkbuilding it has shed light on clearly an effective way to do it. It was an april fools one month late.
For those who work in marketing saying we shouldn’t be writing lies or fabricating stories, it makes me laugh a bit - I’ll never buy a paper or read a blog post again
PS - don’t go changing your stance on standards, i am in 100% agreement on that one.
Its funny cause as a old fashioned seo I pin my flag to most of the simple stuff I’ve seen you promote through the years (I’ve been reading) and I’m more in tune with you than Lyndon, generally, and again I can see where you (and the other post) make valid arguments.
Lyndon’s got obvious talent at linkbait though it might not have been everybody’s cup of tea.
Shame on you for not linking to him lol
Hobo
May 17th, 2008
“It was an april fools one month late.”
And therein lies the point. At no time has he stepped up and gone “April Fool” on the site in question. Only we marketers know about the fraud because he put it on his blog, but the wider community aren’t exposed to either that admission or the ensuing debate.
If the linkbait had gone out and then added a disclaimer in the last line saying - to all of you who came here (blows raspberry) - no problem. The gaff is blown, everyone has a laugh at their own gullibility. But he didn’t. This isn’t an April Fool, it is still being reported as news. Still live on my local news sites. No disclaimer on the original piece.
Therefore, the intention to deceive is clear and that is what Jill and I object to.
Kimota
May 17th, 2008
Where people fall on this issue says volumes about who they are as social media marketers. And the fact that many marketers and SEOs seems to think this was a good thing is proof that the SEO industry is still a untrained dog without a leash.
Halfdeck
May 18th, 2008
[…] for a lot of other SEOs out there seems to be centred around whether or not it’s ethical to use an outright lie like that as a way of promoting a client’s site, especially a client in the market of providing serious […]
Hoaxbait - The Fencesitter's Opinion | SEOpsCentre
May 18th, 2008
I think that the biggest issue highlighted here is the fact that print media uses “syndication” as an out-clause for any kind of fact-checking.
Lazy journalists and editors… no wonder newspapers are sinking.
Sherwood
May 19th, 2008
@halfdeck, definitely agree.
@sherwood, I agree that’s an issue, but to me it’s definitely not the biggest issue. Personally, I don’t like the idea of us (whomever that might be) adding to the sad state that our media has found itself.
Jill Whalen
May 19th, 2008
Well yes, he lied but he gained a lot of backlinks from authority-websites and 50% of the people complaining know are just jealous.
Malte Landwehr
May 20th, 2008
this is news how? the red tops (Tabloid /yellow press) make stuff up all the time in teh uk and The PCC does bugger all about it
Maurice
May 21st, 2008
@maurice, so you’re saying that because they do it, it’s the right thing to do and we as search marketers should do it too?
Jill Whalen
May 21st, 2008
Matt Cutts’ take on this situation:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet/
Jill Whalen
May 23rd, 2008
Have you noticed, the mainstream media doesn’t necessarily check its facts before publishing a story, either. I’ve sent them pre-written articles about charity and Chamber functions I’ve been working on in our town - and when they’re published, the facts have been changed.
That means I take EVERYTHING I read in the news with a large grain of salt.
But I agree with you - telling an out and out lie for the purpose of getting links is a stinky practice.
Marte Cliff
May 28th, 2008
Creating fake news isn’t marketing or public relations, so what is it, I wonder? I am all for creativity, but at the end of the day, I have clients, and my definition of a client is someone you give professional service to. Last time I checked it’s not only unethical to post fake news, it’s reckless to take actions that can result in negative PR for the client (or yourself if you “have an idiot as a client”).
So - it’s actually *worse* to make up news as a marketing ploy, especially as a client, than say if you work for a magazine or as a freelancer and turn in some phony story. To me, the fallout of the phony story is that you breached journalistic ethics and some kind of professional journalism piano is going to fall on your head. By contrast, trying to market something, or yourself, with phony stories that are supposed to be real is actually going to potentially screw up a solid company, causing real economic damage as opposed to resulting in a mere professional scolding…
Hey, I understand hoaxes can be fun. I once wrote a fake “alumni update” for a friend’s entry in the university alumni mag. But I can see how it would be rightfully ticked off by this. It was immature, much like the “marketers” who truly believe that “any tactic” is ok “as long at it…” achieves x,y,z.
Any tactic? Like what, post child porn on your blog? So no, you should admit there is a line somewhere. No one believes that “any tactic” is fine. Those that claim so are screwing up the industry.
Andrew Goodman
May 28th, 2008
Thanks for chiming in, Andrew. Insightful, as always.
Jill Whalen
May 28th, 2008
Just as James Frey was taken to task by the literary community for enhancing his supposed biography “A Million Little Pieces”, so should anyone who publishes something on the Internet with the intention of misleading people for gain.
Link building, like any aspect of SEO, can be done with the searchers best interests in mind, and if the end result of publishing beneficial information for your audience is that loads of people want to link to it - that’s linkbait with integrity.
If everyone was to start making up garbage and passing it off as legitimate in an effort to attract links, it will likely lead to another whole rehashing of link value by the search engines. There’s always someone out there who believes they’re above playing by the rules and the risk is they ruin it for everyone.
Carolyn Price
May 28th, 2008
I refuse to accept this as true ‘link bait’, even with fishing their is a reward to the ‘biter’ , the juicy worm.
Surely true ‘link bait’ offers those who link a reward of some kind, a thank you for linking, be it a free download, commission or any other incentive dangled as bait.
writting fraudulent articles so people link to them is just simply deception and fraud.
Don’t get upset Jill, these SEOs who stoop to such levels as to release false articles are just simply con artists not professionals such as yourself.
It also goes to show how G! needs to change it’s entire premise on how to rank pages.
Quantity of links, as this proves, does not equate to quality of content, regardless of how popular the page seems to be, if the content is a lie, who cares how many people have linked to it!
1DMF
May 29th, 2008