I don’t often speak out on “issues” like this, but the recent announcement by Google’s Matt Cutts that BMW (et al) are being ousted from the big “G” is a massive case of f#@&ing corporate stupidity. I doubt if press like this s going to help BMW much.

1. They went and broke the rules at a major search engine by trying to artificially inflate their search engine rankings. That shows they have no respect for rules, and a weakness in that they’re behind the times with how the web works and how important it is in the way business is done today.

2. According to this article, BMW wanted to outrank their own dealers for certain search terms. In effect, they were trying to hoard business by taking it away from their own dealers - the very people and entities who distribute their product. Essentially, the dealerships are BMW’s biggest customers and they were being shafted using unethical means.

3. The money they spent on hiring some SEO firm would have been much better spent by hiring a team of writers/editors to develop frequently updated content for their site, in the form of articles, FAQ, blogs, forums, etc. They should have invested in building an online community around their brand. Naturally growing content that would have brought organic search traffic. Traffic that’s earned, not swindled from their dealers.

I agree though, BMW is a steadfast brand and this shouldn’t affect their bottom line much, but it will give them a black eye that will show up like a strobe light to millions of tech savvy internet users… many of whom can afford to indulge in their expensive brand.

It just doesn’t look good, no matter how you look at it.

So why did I post this? Many of you may not know this, but I was one of the people who helped pave the way for these SEO guys (the people BMW probably hired) back in the late ’90’s. I was one of the top SEO experts for about 7 years (under various monikers) and Javascript redirects/doorway pages went out with Hotbot and Altavista, along with META stuffing, back in 2001.

It was disgusting back then and it’s just plain moronic now.

BMW, Google, Black Hat SEO