Hidden text, cloaking, keyword stuffing, and other black hat tactics are to the major search engines the equivalent of stealing your best friend’s girlfriend. Neither is a good idea, and each is a quick way to lose respect – be it in the rankings or your previously happy social circle.
With all the attempts by unscrupulous SEMs trying to sneak up in the SERPs through these and other black hat tactics, it’s only natural, at first, to assume that search engines don’t like the people in our industry. However, when you consider that SEMs with a moral compass actually help the engines determine the true focus of a website (which should be their main objective anyway), quite the opposite assumption can be made.
So, which is it? While arguments can and have been made for both cases, an examination of the Google’s Webmaster Help Center and Yahoo! Search Help indicate to me that the engines give us a very timid approval (for evidence, see Google’s recent change of heart here). I guess I can understand this viewpoint in a way. If you had been deceived in the past, whether by a bad friend or evil SEM, wouldn’t you be wary of fully trusting again?
Matt, with so many in our profession crossing lines and selling souls to get on the first page of Google search results, it’s no wonder Google cautions against employing SEM services. I would give the same advice to people who are shopping around. Of course, I would also explain the merits of having the right SEM company handle an organization’s Internet marketing: namely, the value of strategic advice that saves time and creates, preserves or enhances online visibility.