Short answer: ‘it depends’. Let me explain. There are a number of ways to assert your influence upon another website. Some of those ways are illegal, but most are not. When it comes to our services, we operate only in the realm of what is legal…life is too short to go to prison for something stupid like breaking the law over a website. Perhaps you have heard about hackers who attack major sites, get caught, get fined and thrown in jail for 18 months. Here’s one example.
We’re not into prison and we bet you aren’t either. This is why we don’t ‘hack’ sites, nor do we employ software programmes like LOIC that do DDOS attacks. So if that’s what you’re hoping we’ll do, don’t waste your time or ours; and honestly, don’t risk it, it is just really, really stupid…like sucker-punching Mike Tyson. You may land a punch, but Lord help you when he (read: FBI) tracks you down.
It is perfectly legal to build backlinks. People do this every day. They link to interesting article, they link to funny pictures, they link to their social media pages.
The truth is that not all sites respond the same way to links. Google decides how to rank sites. We offer different link packages…you cannot move a battleship with a bb gun. Google has implemented a link disavow tool, which allows anyone with a Google webmaster tools account to essentially tell Google to ignore certain links. This is a good move by Google to combat negative SEO and to enable the end user to find the most relevant information.
However, what if the ‘relevant information’ that comes up when people search for your name, business, or service, is negative?
What if the information is of a private nature? What if someone, maybe your competitor, just published lies? What if an ex-lover posted something embarrassing and untrue about you on a free blog, which included photos and unsubstantiated accusations? Then what? Are you just supposed to hope that they will one day come to their senses and take it down? Do you think the people working for the search engines will rush to your aid when you point these instances out to them? Nope and nope.
So one is free to criticize negative SEO all you want, but a number of our clients, who were losing thousands of dollars because of examples like those I just mentioned, are now able to focus on their business again rather than some stupid blogpost that a disgruntled employee, ex romantic interest, or competitor posted about them in a fit of anger. We help people to recover from the effects of negative SEO.
Is it legal to defend yourself and your reputation? Yes. Is it ethical? Well, again, that depends. We provide a service, how people want to use it is up to them. If you think that our team is interested in taking down charities or other worthy causes, think again. We, like you, believe the internet is a phenomenal tool and that certain groups should have a better reputation than others.
Click on the ‘contact’ tab above to tell us your story or simply order one of the packages available and we’ll do the rest.