A colleague of mine was looking for an SEO job in the southeast and came across the following job posting from an Atlanta based company:
Title: Director of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – Greater Atlanta Area
After the usual company introduction and qualitative expectations, they begin to list their desired skills and experience traits which include:
- Google Adwords Keyword Tool
- Google Trends
- Google Insights
- Word Tracker
- Market Samurai
- Google Webmaster Tools
- Open Site Explorer
- Majestic SEO
- Raven Tools
- Buzz Stream
- **SENuke**
- LinxBoss
- XRumer
- Scrapebox
- PowerSubmitter
The top tools are pretty universal but anyone familiar with black hat SEO tools will immediately recognize the last few items on the list. Why would a company want to advertise that they are seeking someone who is essentially grey/black? Let’s be honest, for as much as Google tries to deny it, Black hat SEO works so long as you don’t get penalized but I would be concerned for their clients because depending on the shade of black what happens if/when they get penalized? The worst thing for any search engine marketing company is the dreaded hysterical client call because they see they aren’t anywhere in Google and need to know what happened and want an immediate plan to fix it.
According to what I can find, most of their clients are in the DUI / DWI space which is already dark grey in most major markets but even then, I wouldn’t admit to interested parties that my company uses or even considers a Black hat strategy. Engaging in a black hat campaign should be something discussed behind closed doors and clients should be informed of the risks.
