There’s been a lot of noise over the fake news posted by Money.co.uk as an SEO tactic today, and perhaps it’s that I don’t have any scruples whatsoever, or perhaps all the other coverage I’ve read is just too holier-than-thou, but in the case of Lyndon Antcliff’s hoax story that ended up gaming Google, I simply don’t see how this is an example of “black hat SEO.”

In case you’re not sure what I’m talking about, I’ll quote blogger Jonathan Crossfield, who summarized the affair fairly succinctly:

“Online marketer Lyndon Antcliff recently helped a client achieve over 1500 inbound links in under a week with a story designed to grab attention.” The article, titled “13 Year Old Steals Dad’s Credit Card to Buy Hookers,” was and still is hosted at the authoritative looking domain Money.co.uk, which is a financial advisor and Lyndon’s client, apparently. The hoax news explains that “Ralph Hardy, a 13 year old from Newark, Texas confessed to ordering an extra credit card from his father’s existing credit card company,” taking his friends on a $30,000 spending spree “culminating in playing ’Halo’ on an Xbox with a couple of hookers in a Texas motel.”

Full story: mashable.com 

Labels: fake, news, punishable