Recently I read identifying yourself as an SEO was tantamount to painting a big Google target on your back. It seems that Google has decided to punish anyone caught helping the other (not so SEO savvy) kids in class. They want a ‘natural order’ to the Net, not an artificial one that has been augmented by skilled practitioners of the SEO arts…

Lest we forget Google despises system tampering so it was really no great shock to hear Google will apply a penalty to your PR rankings if you are found openly flaunting your SEO skills for hire.

Actually it’s a shame the news got out. I’ve been sitting on that priceless piece of information for a while now. In fact, if you are a regular visitor to my site, you would have noticed I changed my site slogan and basic words/branding. I dropped the SEO nomenclature when I figured out this was happening back in the Summer.

So for all you SEO experts out there, keep waiving the SEO flag for the search engines to find, raise your profile – and your chin – as high as you can. Let Google see you coming a mile away and watch what happens… *dastardly chuckle*

Me… I have other plans and I’ve been silently working them for a while now. And yes, it’s quite a paradox we face – how do we market openly and yet not get marked for punishment for offering our services. Quite the conundrum…

Wouldn’t it be good if someone had an answer *wink*