Google’s Matt Cutts went on record last week to answer a recurring question in the outskirts and corners of the SEO world: does Google consider SEO to be spam?
The idea behind the question is that the SEO firm’s job is, ultimately, to manipulate search engine results to that their clients rank better: to perform GoogleFu. Some people on the outskirts of SEO (who often did not understand SEO well) said that clearly if SEO is manipulating search engine results, then SEO is essentially spam and Google will punish you for it.
This rumor has apparently gotten loud enough for Matt Cutts to address it and slap it down like a red-headed stepchild with some GoogleFu of his own. In his most recent video Matt Cutts was clear that Google does not consider SEO to be spam. Here’s the video.
He notes here that there are a lot of things SEO professionals can do to help Google better understand a site (help it rank appropriately) and though there are some black hats out there, there are plenty of approved, white hat, SEO techniques that Google approves of.
So now you have it, directly from the head of Google’s search spam team — SEO is not spam.
Although if you’re reading this, then you probably have at least a rudamentary understanding of SEO and thus knew that SEO was not considered spam by Google already. But now you have a direct response from Google to throw in the faces of the people who continue to try to spread this rumor. It’s like a boot to the head for the ignorant.