Don’t Charlie Sheen Your SEO
As we all know, Charlie Sheen has officially lost his mind. His downward spiral in the public eye began a few weeks ago with bizarre television and media interviews. It seemed like everybody was talking about Charlie Sheen, which is exactly what he wanted. When his tirades first began, it was interesting and humorous to watch. He was throwing out random lines like “I’m tired of pretending I’m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars” and “You can’t process me with a normal brain.” Let’s not forget about his “tiger blood” and “goddesses”. The media and the public were eating it up. T-shirts with these “Charlie-isms” were quickly being distributed and Sheen set a Guinness World Record for fastest Twitter account to reach one million followers. It was the Charlie Sheen show. At that point, Charlie definitely was “winning”. Charlie’s goal was to get attention, and he certainly achieved that goal, but what now? Most times, a quick rise to popularity also results in a quick downfall. That’s where Charlie Sheen can teach us a little bit about SEO.
I would compare Sheen’s approach to a black hat SEO strategy. Charlie wanted the world to know how he felt about the fact that his hit sitcom, “Two and a Half Men” had been canceled for the remainder of the season. He went on a full force media blitz to get the attention that he wanted. While it certainly got him noticed and sparked lots of interest in the beginning, his bizarre behavior has quickly just become annoying and sad. Black hat SEO tactics like buying links or being involved in link exchanges might look appealing because they could result in some quick search engine results page rankings, but much like Charlie Sheen’s popularity, those rankings will not last long. Black hat tactics only create rankings for the short term.
Another similarity between Charlie Sheen’s behavior and black hat SEO is that they both result in penalties. CBS fired Charlie Sheen from his gig at “Two and a Half Men” for his crazy antics. The search engines punish black hat spammers by taking away a good search engine ranking. What is Charlie Sheen without “Two and a Half Men”? Similarly, what is a website without a good search engine results page ranking? Not much. SEO should be a slow, steady process, not an all out media blitz. It’s all about establishing trust with the search engines and building quality links over time. If it’s all done at once, it’s considered spammy. It might take awhile to find success, but it’s certainly worth the wait.
Websites that engage in black hat tactics sometimes receive penalties so large that they have to start an entirely new website to try and build up a search engine presence again. If Charlie Sheen has any sense left, he’d be wise to try and rebuild his image as well. However, no matter how hard he tries, his antics will never be forgotten. Rebuilding isn’t easy. Sometimes it’s nearly impossible. Think about the image of other stars that have gone “crazy” like Tom Cruise and Mel Gibson. They will never be viewed the same way ever again. The moral of the story is this: if you engage in bad SEO you will never be “winning”.
30 Responses to “Don’t Charlie Sheen Your SEO”
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oh gads I never want to hear his name again. NEVER!
Also I don’t want to hear about movie stars visiting poor countries. ugh makes me want to vomit.
http://www.BorkgrenPhoto.net
Not only has Charlie Sheen “officially lost his mind, his name is now officially a verb! Seriously, though, I have seen the “spammy” techniques that people use first hand in forums I’ve visited, where they pull a “Charlie Sheen”(now he’s also a noun) by posting nonsense just to get a link for their website. As you pointed out, It doesn’t work, and it’s annoying to the reader.
Thanks Joseph for reading and sharing your thoughts!
Take Care,
Nick
great piece Nick, but I do need to point out that this Charlie Sheen “blackHat” methodology was #1 in it’s channel (TV) — and even tho it’s cancelled, the thing to remember is that a lotta folks pay attention to the #1 item in their channel…
sadly, what I’m trying to say is, wont matter…Charlie will resurface in another TV show…just like the blackHatters do…time and time again, eh!
Jim
That’s a very creative comparison, and a very compelling title!
Not true… Let’s say you can make lots more money from your black hat tactics… enough to make it worth while. You would do it wouldn’t you? Charlie Sheen wasn’t really able to make any profit from his huge spike in popularity.
Also, if you do get banned, you are only out of the search results for 2 or 3 months. The only thing I get from not doing black hat seo is, don’t make Google look bad and you won’t get caught… i.e. JC Penny.
Hi Sam,
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts here.
I 100% disagree with you! I have seen website get banner for much longer than 3 months from using black hat techniques. My thought is if a website is your full time business or the company you work for, stay white hat always…it is not worth it. If you have a hobby website and you want experiment then feel free to (I still don’t recommend going over to the dark side)….much like Charlie Sheen has…
Anyway, that is just my methodology…
Thanks again for stopping by.
Take Care,
Nick
Nick! I applaud your strategy here – optimizing an article for the key phrase “charlie sheen” and relating it to SEO! Thanks for also adding some valuable content to it as well. *wink wink*
Nick,
Great article! Thanks for slamming Sam down. I have many clients that got fooled into thinking that the SEO company they hired was good and that the techniques they employ were sound. To their amazement the fell to the depths of Google SERP hell.
Black hat SEO’s give all of us a bad name and plants distrust in many people’s eyes. Thank You.
Comparing Charlie Sheen to black hat is a creative comparison. I really don’t get black hat SEO too much. While the payoff can be good, in the long run so can white hat SEO.
The biggest difference is that with black hat you may be punished by Google resulting in your site being banned. This forces you to restart from scratch. White hat, while there is still a chance of losing rankings, the chances of being banned are lower, so you will continuously be making money from the site. I’d rather keep making money than having some downtime while I start a new site.
Amen, Nick. Good analogy. It is highly doubtful that Sheen has staying power in his current role as the sobered whack job. Just like Black Hat SEO, his act lacks the genuine “relevance” required for sustainability. It’s a ton of energy output for a very temporary spotlight. I hope marketers learn that they’re better served putting energy into sustainable SEO practices – and making relevant connections to their market. It takes longer but the payoff is longer lasting and infinitely more meaningful.
The internet is the last bastion for “the people” (as we just saw in Egypt). I feel it is our responsibility, as internet entrepreneurs, to keep it as honest and sustainable as possible. The virtual world is a reflection of the physical world. Thanks for making the comparison Nick.
Perfect comparison! Here is another funny but good comparison I read the other day too: http://searchenginewatch.com/3641928?utm_source=Rob&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=SEO
How can the 100 or so hopefuls who continually bombard my blogs each day with comments that don’t make any sense possibly imagine i will approve their comments and get a backlink that by the way will be no folow anyway. Nick you are on to it. Give google what they want, good content, genuine backlinks, and no black hat. It aint rocket science
What is “black hat seo”? How do you define it? What is “buying links”? These are very open-ended “truths” that are espoused. JCpenney got in trouble and truly were black hat because they merely bought links on web sites that had no authority, no context to their site and no value to the content (also no visitors!). But a person who “buys” a link on a top-rated blog because they send the blogger either cash or a free sample for a review, along with 2-3 links to their site…is that “black hat”? I think not. It’s called “PR” and it’s as old as media.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for reading and sharing this post…it seems they referenced one of my past comments on the Search Engine Watch blog, which is nice to see
Hi Matt,
I agree with your this is not black hat, but a good promotional PR strategy…there is a clear difference between good quality links that provide value, visitors and generate business, then links that are not relevant and have no authority…
Thanks for reading and your comment!
Nick
I actually applaud what you have wrote here as clearly your aim is for white hat seo links using current trending terms and I believe you have achieved it. As for black hat seo, everyone gets caught out in the end if you dont play by the rules
This was truly one of those /grabs popcorn weeks. I was fascinated by the media blitz. I was fascinated by the Twitter world record.
One thing I thought was GENIUS (which was more smart PR than SEO but still) was how he took control of the verbage. He introduced his ladies as “the goddesses” before the media/public could name them something else. Absolutely brilliant there.
Also loved how he gave the public a tagline, complete with hashtag. It was a fascinating week for #winning and #thataintwinning and I saw some #seo genius behind most of it.
I think the problem is – we KNEW it wasn’t organic. It was the equivalent of a Googlebomb taking over TV/Twitter/Internet Media. At some point, we want our organic search results back.
I totally agree with avoiding black hat techniques, but I am curious what you consider to be a “white hat” link building technique? Guest posting and solid content are the only two things I know of, but if you’re in a niche that doesn’t get a lot of link love (health – especially doctors etc) what d you do?
Hi Blake,
Thanks for reading and sharing your question. Any type of link building activity that helps build your brand, generates visitors is a good fit.
Here is another article that I wrote earlier this week that has some other typical type of link building activities (of course it is different for EVERY type of business):
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/2011/03/08/link-building-techniques/
Hope this helps.
Thanks & Take Care!
Nick
I’m struggling to understand your definition of “Black Hat SEO”. If you were to define that in your post it would make a lot more sense to readers when attempting to personify link building techniques.
In order to be effective with link building, having a creative strategy is key. SEO or any type of online advertising campaign doesn’t have to be a long or drawn out process if the goal is to come hard out of the gate. I agree with your point about maintaining link velocity but saying that SEO is a “slow process” is just wrong because you’re not comparing it to a niche, a set of keywords, or the status of the website you’re trying to rank.
If you’re relating Charlie Sheen’s recent media blitz to SEO, he did a fantastic job of going viral and would maintain rank, if a web property was the focal point of the campaign as authoritative website have been covering the story and citing happenings by linking to other sources. Oh wait, his Twitter account has 2.5 million followers? Are you aware of what that translates to in terms of linking authority?
Unless you have a crystal ball and can predict Charlie Sheen’s next moves, it’s really hard to compare SEO strategies to his recent actions.
I’m going to have to agree with Mindy Koch, the Charlie Sheen campaign was GENIUS from an SEO perspective.
I’m shocked that you’re seeing it the other way around and just a handful of people commenting on this thread have stepped up to question your logic with respect to defining “Black Hat SEO”.
I’m very curious to learn more about what you consider “White Hat” with respect to getting a website ranked, nonetheless for competitive terms.
Kind regards,
Nicky Papers
Hi Nicky,
Thanks so much for reading and sharing your extensive thoughts and opinions.
Black hat SEO in my book is very simple:
Not following the Google and Microsoft (for Bing/Yahoo!) webmaster guidelines and trying to make SEO results to move faster by taking an unethical approach. Here is the webmaster guidelines:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35769
http://www.bing.com/toolbox/webmasters/?rfp=1617547730
Also, here is additional information from Google about white hat, “best practice” SEO:
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=35291
Here is the official black hat SEO definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_or_black_hat
Also, here are other blog posts I have written in the past about black hat SEO:
http://www.searchengineoptimizationjournal.com/?s=black+hat+seo
I hope this clarifies what black hat SEO is and I really don’t think Charlie Sheen went crazy to help his personal brand in the search engines and his SEO efforts
Thanks for reading!
Nick
well.. great comparison, good example. I also think that when this Social Search will start to roll out, I wonder if this will bring about the death of black hat SEO somehow. I can only surmise that party’s will be over for them and they have to play by the rule once and for all. Thanks for sharing this.
Charlie has certainly used up a bunch of good will in the last few weeks with all his bravado, but don’t forget that Angelina Jolie used to carry viles of Billy-Bob Thornton’s blood on a necklace and full-on make out with her own brother in public. Now she has turned into a do-gooder of the highest order.
Nevertheless, I, of course, agree with your premise as it relates to Search Engine Optimization. It’s VERY difficult to return from those kinds of black hat SEO “tricks”! Great analogy!
Here’s an article we wrote on a similar topic http://www.firstpagestar.com/back-links-inbound-links/ for you. Enjoy!
Great Post Nick
I have to believe Charlie has drug problems and other issues. One has to be stupid to throw 2 million a week down the drain. Even his last number of shows he didnt look the same..Maybe a little denial.
Black hat stay away. the effort for short term gain is not worth getting your site banned or delisted. Unless you like buying new domains and building sites.
Slow and steady is what google wants. Constant high quality relevant content. This new google helped me and kept my other sites at the top. The garbage went in the toilet. Give google what they want and you will get and stay at the top forever.
Jing
Comparing Charlie Sheen with the ultimate black hatter is correct in my opinion. So many people succumb to using black hat techniques that will eventually be picked up by the search engines and drop the site like a stone in the rankings. Using good white hat SEO is actually easier. Good PR (double meaning) while it lasts, then watch out, be careful what you ask for!
Well, I think it is quite sad that Charlie Sheen is comfortable with the way he projects himself.
Two and a Half Men is my favorite show. I’ll watch the eposides even if I’ve seen then 20 times. I find the characters so comfortable to invite into my home….as a writer I appreciate the writing of the show. They are the best!
Charlie, as all of us, has lessons to learn. Right now he has chosen to act like a spoiled and out-of-conrtol three year old. I just hope that he comes out this and lands on his feet. He still has many lessons that he needs to learn to grow as an actor and a human being. Much luck Charlie, hope you learn to think more about the true spirit of who you are. Best of luck. Marguerite Fair, Writer, Los Angeles, CA
Thanks, Nick for using Charlie’s divebomb as a useful metaphor for what we (white hat guys) are trying to avoid and discourage.
It is a shame to watch him…I really like the guy, but oy! I have my fingers crossed for him as I don’t anticipate a happy ending without him hitting a heckuva “rock bottom” first!
Cheers, Edward
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