It happened again! A verbal attack because of what I do for a living or others assume I do.
Yeah, someone hates me because I have SEO in the title of my blog.
This time it happened on a social media site where I did not expect it as people get personalized news there.
Thus I was caught off guard and engaged in some kind of futile “debate”.
It was my bad though! I was “feeding a troll”!
What is feeding a troll and why does it backfire?
You probably know how feeding trolls can quickly spiral out of control.
Why? These people are usually lonely and spending their days online.
They do nothing else besides provoking others!
They want to get some human attention.
Stirring anger is the only way they get reactions.
This is one of the downsides of the Web.
When everybody agrees with you you get low engagement.
Some sites thus have built in rage bait algorithms.
The more you provoke the more people talk back!
Some people even use often anti-social sites like Facebook to become president.
Yet this is a problem that is way older than Facebook or Trump.
Also it’s not just about politics!
So the more you react the more you push the agenda of the trolls.
President Trump is hugely successful with this.
He menages to mobilize people whop oppose him to spread the word about him!
Even I have to mention his name and thus popularize him.
That’s how engaging with trolls backfires.
Do you remember the nineties?
When I started using the Web in 1997 I was already late to the table.
The Web has been around for quite a while.
Yet already back then a meme was popular: “don’t feed the troll!”.
From the early days of bulletin boards and newsgroups (Usenet!) and then mailing lists and forums the issue of trolls appeared.
What are trolls? People who just wanted to provoke others online.
Usually so called “flame wars” ensued.
Web-savvy users quickly noticed the pattern and usually stepped in quoting the “don’t feed the troll” mantra.
Yet it didn’t work. There were always some poor souls who reacted instinctively and fought back.
Their fight or flight reaction from the “lizard brain” got triggered.
They shot back.
This is what trolls want!
Online trolls literally feed off attention!
The more you engage (like in a boxing match) the more they rejoice.
Usually nobody would speak to them but this way they get into the limelight.
Despite knowing the don’t feed the troll motto I still fell for it when i was attacked for my line of work.
SEO experts often get offended. Why?
Most mere mortals don’t know what SEO is and that it’s a legit practice. They mix it up with spam.
The truth is some people who practice SEO also mistake one for the other.
I don’t spam as an ethical SEO.
So I would usually explain that SEO is not spam.
In future I won’t feed the trolls anymore.
Instead I will explain why they are wrong once and for all time.
When you hate it don’t read it
Are you at risk of becoming a troll?
Do you think “SEOs are ruining the Internet“?
Then just consider this:
people who dislike SEO do not have to read about it.
Just ignore the topic!
You can also stop using Google.
Just use your bookmarks or something when you don’t like optimized search results.
It’s not like on the early Reddit where everybody saw an article once it became popular and ended up on the front page.
You can choose your fields of interest and follow your favorite topics. When you choose
- Internet
- search
- social media
you have to deal with people who – like me – help others to learn how to build websites and make them popular.
How actual trolling looks like
You might think I exaggerate.
Why would someone hate SEO with the fervor needed to actually experience such negative emotions like hate? Decide yourself:
An Internet troll infamous for verbally abusive behavior “reviewed” my article about the pros of social media traffic with the words:
Fuck SEO, fuck you and your shitty blog, fuck creating content just to get traffic, and fuck sandspurs.
In case you thought I made that “hate” up he literally used the word hate himself in the next sentence:
I hate those things. I can’t even take out the garbage anymore without putting on shoes.
He closed his review by saying “get some AIDS”. This is not the SEO is bullshit kind of point of view, no, this is actual hate speech.
When I was new to social media I did not know if or how you can inform the staff of such a violation.
Also it was a very difficult process.
Cyberbullying is a common problem these days.
Journalists even visited actual trolls to find out what kind of people would spread hate online.
One of the oldest rules of online communications is still often the best solution: do not feed the troll.
Trolls usually crave people’s attention.
Yet by now there are even paid trolls and governments are use trolling as a tactic in cyberwarfare.
Also journalists are often the victims of Internet trolls themselves.
So this is not only about me, SEO or bloggers.
There are plenty of situations when you have to deal with trolls.
And there is only one solution: “don’t feed the troll”.
What does this mean exactly?
Ignoring them altogether?
Dealing with verbal attacks
So how do you deal with verbal attacks online, smear campaigns or even actual threats?
Anyway, as this kind of verbal attack is not new to me.
Indeed I had fought such SEO haters in German before I even started blogging here back in 2007!
Thus I also do in English but more efficiently.
I want to repel those spurious arguments once and for all.
Why? So I can link back to it every time a vigilante like that wants to offend me or the whole trade.
Yet I also want to tell you how to deal with troll attacks in general.
How exactly? Read on!
Do not respond publicly.
- Report them!
- Block them!
- Remove their hate comments.
Harassment – especially of women and minorities – which is most common is illegal and banned almost everywhere.
So you can report trolls behind the scenes to
- social media sites (most have predefined options for this!)
- hosting providers (especially Blogger, Tumblr, WordPress.com and the likes)
- Their parents (as many trolls are still kids)
- The authorities (think police!)
Use any means possible to limit the attention they get.
Delete the troll comments as soon as possible when have control about them.
Do not respond publicly!
Do not get angry.
Anger is just an outburst of energy.
The more energy you invest the more you feed the trolls!
You literally give them the energy they crave.
Trolls are often narcissistic personalities who are very close minded.
Likewise they are also close hearted so they can’t get energy from enjoying life.
Sadistic endeavors like abusing others give them some satisfaction though.
So any public commitment on your side gives them the validation they need.
Why hating it is wrong: SEO is fine!
Let’s return to the SEO example.
Some people are confused as to the nature of SEO.
For all those who are not full time trolls I try to clarify this a bit.
Also offenders like him are just wrong.
Yet many people who do not know much about SEO do still believe such accusations.
Inform yourself. Do not believe rumors or generalized prejudice.
Please check out the 10 reasons why SEO is fine!
This individual only offers one excuse for their outlandish behavior.
The rest is pure hate. Thus I have to add some common stereotypes about search engine optimization myself. SEO…
1. is “creating content just to get traffic“: No, SEO is creating traffic for your content!
Creating more content for your users and creating great content for your users and/or clients.
SEO is about guessing what the people want and giving it to them.
SEO is assisting website owners to create content not just for themselves and their egos but also for the people out there.
2. is purely commercial: No, SEO is about empowering website owners of any type and budget!
Even those with no budget at all to optimize their blogs or websites.
They do it to reach their audience, whether they want to sell something, create a religious site or work for a non profit organization.
Especially SEO blogs like mine enable people to employ DIY optimization!
It’s not only in the sense of SEO. I also cover also design, usability, writing so that their websites are useful for their potential audience.
3. is selfish: SEO can be selfish but as stated above SEO can also be used for any type of website and goal – even altruistic ones.
It not only can, it is widely used for different purposes.
SEOs assist others in their blogs so that they can master SEO themselves.
4. pollutes social networks and news: Well no, there might have been some spectacular cases!
In those race cases early social sites have been manipulated but that’s not necessarily or automatically SEO.
Most respected and well known SEOs are power users and valuable contributors to all kinds of social sites.
In many cases they even help to create the social sphere of such sites in the first place as early adopters.
5. is about manipulating Google results or other services: Well, no, it isn’t.
You can manipulate the results in the sense that’s it is technically possible.
The Google algorithm is a bit flawed. Robots just can not determine what’s best for humans.
The search engine still relies mostly on incoming links.
A widely used gray hat technique was that of “paid links”.
It depended on the Google vulnerability to count inbound links as the main factor for rating a site.
People bribed website owners to get links to their properties.
I noticed that especially non-SEO people still tend to use this or even wackier methods as they think “you should do it”.
I sometimes encountered clients who said something like “I already optimized with some hidden text”.
Even web developers suggested such “optimization” more than once.
Most proper SEOs do not need such shady techniques!
They get enough link love just for creating content as in 1.
6. is SPAM: No, SEO is search engine optimization!
In short making a site crawlable, indexable and rankable for search engine spiders.
It’s about creating content for the users and making it known on the Web.
At the end of the day it’s supporting Google to do its job.
Spam on the contrary in the case of search engines is tricking search engines.
SPAM makes Google “believe” a particular site offers content that is worth to be ranked high in the search results whereas it is not.
Although Spamdexing is likened to (black hat) SEO it’s almost like saying that shoppers and shoplifters are the same.
Why? It’s because they both go to the supermarket and take away groceries.
7. destroys the Internet: Again, SEO helps you to find relevant content on the Web.
It allows webmasters to create sites not just for themselves but for their audiences.
SEO allows users to find the best and most relevant content on the best sites!
How that? As in the long run only those can establish themselves as authorities and will be ranked high in Google and elsewhere.
8. Only bad spammy sites do SEO: You will only recognize bad SEO on bad sites.
You won’t even notice good SEO on good sites. You will find those and enjoy the user experience.
Every webmaster, every online news outlet, almost every corporation that has not stopped evolving in 2001 does SEO.
The New York Times does it, Apple does it, Amazon does it. Every SEO hater does it.
WordPress is already search engine optimized by default.
9. Only rich people can afford it: Well no, SEO 2.0 and other blogs make it possible for every webmaster to learn how to optimize their sites.
That’s the purpose of SEO blogs like this one.
SEO empowers the people to compete with newspapers and corporations.
You can outrank the New York Times, Apple or Amazon.
10. is sneaky and shady: No, every webmaster does it or should if he still does not.
Representatives of large newspapers or corporations approach SEOs and want to do it.
Your neighbor does it!
Also everybody who is not crazy enough to believe that he is the only person to decide what’s good for the rest of the world.
To keep it short and positive: SEO is fine!
That’s why it’s so wide-spread by now.
Feeding is futile
Reacting to online trolls is futile btw.
You are not responsible for the hate of others.
I practice search engine optimization and I stand for what I do with my real name unlike many people who offend me.
In case you do SEO yourself, you can send people this link.
Trolls don’t merely disagree with you.
You can’t really prove them wrong.
It’s not about the issue.
They attack usually based on identity.
It’s their psychological problem not yours.
Their have some mental health issues, unresolved trauma or even some criminal records.
So just stay away from online trolls.
Are you a troll? Read this!
When you are a hater: never mind, you will always find someone to hate! Either the search engine optimizers or the
- Jews
- Muslims
- homosexuals
or whomever. Finding a scapegoat is easy.
Just look for a minority that is not widely accepted due to prejudice.
It’s not about “protecting the Web” or something. It’s your problem. It’s your hate. It’s you. You destroy the Web.
You have to take care of yourself and the anger your harbor.
Venting your frustrations and projecting your rage “looking your trouble” on the outside world won’t fix the problem.