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Matt Cutts is Google’s Genghis Khan of Spam. He probably slaughters more search engine spam sites in one week than Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great and Napoleon combined killed people in their conquest of the known world.

While we don’t have any proof that’s true (Google doesn’t release spam stats), we can all agree that Matt Cutts is the world’s most famous spam killer with more kills to his name than any other search engine spam cop.

Matt’s pictured here in a Halloween pic from his blog in full frontal punk rock mode.

So if you want a great introduction to “What Google Knows About Spam” then spend 10 minutes watching Matt’s Web 2.0 keynote video.

It will be the best 10 minute investment you make all week.

Don’t forget to leave a “thank you” for Matt here or on Matt’s blog. Either way, he’ll see your comment and respond if he has time.

If you read only one blog post this weekend, let me micropersuade you to read Steve Rubel’s SEO Shenanigans Pose a Clear and Present Danger to Social Media.

Before engaging in the debate, I’d like to invite Steve to expand on his Micropersuasion post in Search Engine Watch, home of Sergey Brin’s Internet Doomsday Scenario.

Hey, we don’t hate debate. We like controversy. We love search engine optimization, SEOs, social search, SMM and search engine marketing.

Steve: help our readers around the world understand what specific search engine strategies are “SEO shenanigans.” You listed this Search Engine Watch blog post first: Boost Organic Results. Link Build with Social Media.

I think it’s a brilliant guide: How to earn more money, improve online reputation and build brand equity online — goals, Steve, you share for your clients?

Even so our blogger received death threats. Marty’s blazing new SEO and SMO trails and that takes courage.

Wikipedia (Slate’s new BFF) defines a shenanigan as a “deceitful confidence trick, or mischief causing discomfort or annoyance.”

I don’t think your brilliant linkbait blog post is a con game. It’s a great SEO shenanigan!

Anonymous Wikepedian(s) go on to say, “However, in some regions, shenanigans can merely refer to harmless mischievous play, especially by children. It should be noted that the word itself is considered humorous, because of its unique sound.”

So Steve were you - a PR maven - just joking around? Let me know. I think I may agree with you to a certain extent but I’m not sure.

So let’s dynamically insert “search engine optimization” and “social media” keywords into Dictionary.com’s definitions from the Random House Unabridged Dictionary:

1. SEO mischief; prankishness by SEOs: Halloween shenanigans.
social media marketing deceit; SEO trickery.
2. mischievous or deceitful SEO trick (Googlebombing?) practice, etc.

Here’s the revised American Heritage Dictionary version of SEO shenanigan:

1. A deceitful SEO trick; an underhanded SMM act.
2. Online social media remarks intended to deceive; SEO PR deceit.
3. A playful or mischievous search engine optimization act; an SMM prank.
4. SEO mischief; SMO prankishness.

None of the above seems to pose a clear and present danger.

Graywolf points out in your post’s comments that everyone’s playing by Google’s rules. Here’s what The Google says:

Google’s number two SERP (search engine results page) suggests shenanigans engaged in by couples present a clear and different danger.

Shenanigans - Indiana - Midwest’s Premier “Couples Only” Club for …
The Midwest’s Premier “Couples Only” Club ! Shenanigans “Where Adults Come for Fun”. Couples Only!

For inquiring minds, that’s shenanigans.net. Since the keyword’s in the title, it’s not SEO shenanigans at work (or in play).

Google’s paid search algorithm matches “shenanigans” with the “biggest losers” crowd: diet, fat and weight loss tips and tricks:

Sponsored Links
10 Rules to Cut Belly Fat
Lose 9 lbs every 11 Days with these 10 Idiot Proof Rules of Fat Loss.
www.FatLoss4Idiots.com

Steve, did your database of intentions intend SEO shenanigans to encompass a Google broad match/Thesaurus.com semantic search? For example, did you mean:

SEO antics, SEM capers, SEO dirty trick, fooling around with SEO, social media optimization frolicsomeness, search engine optimization funny business, SEO gag, search engine optimization hanky-panky, SEO high jinks, SEO PR horseplay, SEO PR horsing around, social media misbehavior, social media marketing mischievousness, monkey business*, SM naughtiness, SEO nonsense, search marketing prank, SEO trouble, social media marketing vandalism

If so, Google contextual advertising (content advertising) seems to think shenanigans are just a joke: Super Trooper-style (see YouTube result for keyword “shenanigans”) or in a Superbad Knocked Up kind of way.

Here’s another AdSense ad matched to “shenanigans” on Thesaurus.com:

Click to read the rest of this post…

I’m not sure if Halloween is widely celebrated in China, but it seems the government nonetheless chose that day to present their citizens with a gift: access to YouTube.
Of course, this is the same government that was responsible for them not having access for the previous couple of weeks, so the kindness of this [...]

Can you guess who I’m supposed to be?Here’s a hint…Ok. That’s Pete Sampras. I have had so many people tell me I look like Pete Sampras that it was the obvious choice for this Halloween. My wife went as the Cheerleader from Heroes (a great show), and we had a ball.Time [...]

Unreliable access to one’s website when spiders come crawling could result in being dropped from a search engine’s index.Downtime can be scarier than any Halloween spookiness for a site publisher. While search engines like Google will send their indexing spiders around multiple times to a site, too many inaccessible results due to downtime could be [...]

When I first heard about Simon Leung’s The Death of Google AdWords, I thought to myself…
“Oh no, not another death report.”
There’s already been other reports in the past year with a similar theme.
But out of curiosity, I took a peek anyway.
Much to my surprise, this report was actually really good!
The title really does make sense, [...]

Expect to see a swarm of pirates plundering your yard this Halloween. Pirate costumes are again the most searched for ensembles, just like last year. Of course, it depends on the source. Yahoo says we’re all going disco. 
That data comes from Hitwise UK, so it may appear to be the Brits following America’s lead from [...]

Anyone who’s seen Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds” has realized that lots of little creatures can constitute an extremely dangerous force.  And as Halloween approaches, we have to ask: does Google, with its many competitors, have anything to be worried about?
If we’re to continue our analogy to “The Birds,” it’s obvious that Google is no [...]

Logged in to Site Explorer? Logged out? Those inlink counts looked different because they were, according to Yahoo Search.Search Engine Roundtable saw something funny with the Yahoo Site Explorer counts. They varied greatly when viewed while logged in to the service as opposed to being logged out.
“57,146 inlinks and 216,880 inlinks is a huge difference [...]

Combine an addictive device - the BlackBerry - with a popular social network - Facebook - and what do you get?  I’m not sure I want to know, but thanks to a new development, we’re about to find out.
“Facebook for BlackBerry Smartphones” launched earlier today.  Given the power of its two components, we may see [...]