Can the NY Times Story Help J.C. Penney?
The New York Times recently exposed the SEO shenanigans that led to retailer J.C. Penney’s top Google rankings highlighting their use of “black hat” SEO tactics (specifically underhanded link building).
When the story broke, the good folks over at Google – apparently realizing that they’d been gamed – made the needed adjustments to bring J.C. Penney back down to reality. Bad news for the large consumer brand, right?
Well… Maybe.
As I was reading more coverage of the story over at searchengineland.com, I realized that a lot of the media outlets covering the tale of J.C. Penney’s SEO blunder are, in fact, linking to J.C. Penney! While the anchor text (the words that actually link) isn’t nearly as good, the links are coming from much more authoritative websites – like the NY Times, for example.
There’s no question that they’ve lost a lot in the short term, but as most reputable SEO firms know, it’s generally only a matter of time before Google catches up with you if you’re not playing by their rules. So, now that J.C. Penny’s has fired the SEO firm behind the links in question, they’re no longer falsely inflated and just trying to stay one step ahead of the most famous algorithm on the planet.
And, as I mentioned, they’re actually now building links the right way – with legitimate news, from legitimate websites.
This story probably doesn’t have the legs to return them to their previous throne atop search results. But, they’ve learned an important lesson about SEO, and specifically, choosing a talented and honest SEO firm.
Hopefully for them, the combination will return some longer-lasting and more meaningful search results!