Tue 20 Jan 2009
SEO, Google & The Broken Windows Theory
Blurb by Shaun Anderson (Hobo)
The broken window theory;
- “Consider a building with a few broken windows. If the windows are not repaired, the tendency is for vandals to break a few more windows. Eventually, they may even break into the building, and if it’s unoccupied, perhaps become squatters or light fires inside.
- Or consider a sidewalk. Some litter accumulates. Soon, more litter accumulates. Eventually, people even start leaving bags of trash from take-out restaurants there or breaking into cars.”
Consider with respect to Google. You see lesser (!) sites ranking on nothing but 100% manufactured links, you don’t see Google taking action (like the only action which counts, rankings loss), more people decide to spam to rank their sites. Spam begets more spam. Link buying begets more link buying (which is also against Google TOS).
The solution according to the authors of the study;
A successful strategy for preventing vandalism, say the book’s authors, is to fix the problems when they are small. Repair the broken windows within a short time, say, a day or a week, and the tendency is that vandals are much less likely to break more windows or do further damage. Clean up the sidewalk every day, and the tendency is for litter not to accumulate (or for the rate of littering to be much less). Problems do not escalate and thus respectable residents do not flee a neighborhood.
Do you think parallels can be drawn?
Did you know when you link to a Hobo SEO post we have search engine friendly links back to your site if approved? Our comments are also search engine friendly you know (once you've commented on a few posts)! Do you need any more encouragement to get involved in the conversation ;)
Yes I do think parallels can be drawn, but how to fix those broken windows is the problem. I wouldn’t know where to start.
I’ve donned my white hat and have a strategy to beat them at there own game so to speak. You just keep supplying the fuel and I’ll keep the fires burning.
hey Shaun,
Cool theory but I think the “weak link” is that breaking a window doesn’t carry the death penalty.
Although it’s tempting to jump on the bandwagon and resort to spamming if everyone else is doing it, as long as google can maintain the fear of getting ones website banned, I think it serves as a pretty strong deterrent. There are also those of us that just think breaking windows is wrong, not matter what everyone else does!
~ Steve, purveyor of portable trade show booths
I think we can still break the window, but piece by piece so it doesn’t break at once!
I hope I’m not responsible for sending you any spammers.
I have you listed as a dofollow blog and send a few readers your way. I’ve linked to the page above.
I’m in the process of updating the rankings and providing a bit of information about each site. Let me know if you’d like to change yours.
Warmly,
Linda P. Morton
Not a problem Linda
Absolutely agree with this – and the situation becomes more frustrating by the day as more and more sites pile into the world of buying links.
I think most people would agree that the best long-term approach is to avoid paid links entirely, but how long-term is that? Are we talking years until Google cleans up its act and begins to downgrade the problem sites?
Of course, the harder it is to rise up the natural listings, the more inclined people will be to advertise, which will benefit the SEs.