SMX Advanced - Too black for some?

This morning I’ve been looking at putting together an SEO panel for a4uexpo. We had a great panel on ‘Extreme SEO’ last year, which was so popular we’ve decided to put it back on the agenda, allowing for even more Q&A time.

From the line-up of SEO superstars I think it’s quite possibly going to be one of the more eventful and useful sessions this October.

This speaker research led me to some current unrest in the search community.

Apparently the recently held SMX Advanced conference in Seattle went too ‘black’ for some. With a number of attendees questioning whether certain dark side SEO techniques should be discussed openly in a classroom environment or kept to smoky downtown bars?

I guess in my mind it’s a question of how you want the search industry to be perceived by clients, brands, newbies and the outside world. After all such conferences help to shape thinking and the future of the sector.

For some verticals grey or black is now the only way to get good rankings. Even good content, page structure and onsite SEO is not enough.

It’s an interesting read and it’s a moral dilemma for the highly respected Danny Sullivan, I suspect he has to make a decision on how such sessions are programmed at subsequent events.