Aaron Wall sued by Traffic Power - a defining moment in SEM?

Aaron Wall is an unassuming person who writes with clarity. Yet when you meet him it’s not hard to find he speaks in somewhat awkward manner, as if he’s stumbling through too many ideas at once, and isn’t always sure which one he’s speaking about.

He’s also a friendly guy who is happy to engage anybody on webmaster issues, has a clear sense of moral boundaries, and has been known to spend hours everyday giving out free advice on search engine marketing (SEM) by e-mail.

Aaron Wall is also the person behind SEO Book - and is currently being sued by Traffic Power.

And the Wall Street Journal just reported the case.

I haven’t followed the Traffic Power case as much as I should have - but the basic story appears to be that Traffic Power engaged in an aggressive telemarketing campaign, in which they “guaranteed” high rankings on search engines. Then, without informing their clients, they carried out very high risk techniques that promptly got Traffic Power’s client websites all banned from Google.

The methods involved are not the issue - telemarketing is not illegal, and there are very high-profit industries that demand high risk SEM techniques.

What Traffic Power have almost been universally condemned for in SEM circles is their blatant disregard for their clients. Even those SEO practitioners who practise very high risk techniques are adamant that they will not do so without clear client consent. This is what Traffic Power are esepcially accused of not doing.

At it’s heart is not whether search engine marketing follows ethical or unethical methods with respect to search engine guidlines, as much as whether any professional company should be held to basic principles of professionalism.

Aaron Wall has made a big point of pushing this issue on the Traffic Power story. And now Traffic Power are trying to silence him for doing so.

Apparently the allegation is actually that Aaron has been publishing “trade secrets” - though this looks like a poor bluff as what has been done and practiced was in the public domain the moment Traffic Power saw their client’s banned.

The Wall Street Journal article now gives Aaron a real spotlight to work with, and also highlights other important issues of liability for webmasters and bloggers.

However, I would also like to see this as an opportuntity for organisations that claim to represent the SEM industry to actually get involved in this case and prove their connection to the rest of us who practice SEM.

I’ve already called on SEMPO and SMA-NA to get involved, and it seems that both parties may actually issue a joint statement on the case.

We all make mistakes, and in marketing and SEO not every campaign will work as well as you expect. SEO is a high risk game where the SEO’s can load the dice, but we still have to let Google roll them.

But there needs to be a clear distinction between the risks of the game, and the outright predatory nature of some internet companies, who will completely disregard the interests of the client for quick profit.

This is the issue at stake in this case - it is not primarily one of blogger’s right to publish, nor of search marketing adherence or not to search engine guidelines - but one of a fledgling search engine marketing industry defining whether it represents good business practices in the interests of the consumer - or not.

EDIT: Aaron is now taking donations to fight the case.