> If you are a small business/ up and coming company white seo practices are the safe choice. Not (entirely) true. Here's a 'small business' sans any big-brand

> If you are a small business/ up and coming company white seo practices are the safe choice. Not (entirely) true. Here's a 'small business' sans any big-brand protection that is obviously spamming the heck out of electrician/plumber niches and has been succeeding for years. If you're near one of the relevant areas and Google "[area] plumber" you'll see a few of their sites on page 1. Not one or two. Maybe five. My fiancee got an electrician in from one of those sites and he was so clueless he claimed that his people were building an oven element (rather than buying it for $20 and just installing it.) http://find-sa.co.za/directory/category/a1_plumbing_services/index.php http://find-sa.co.za/directory/category/a1_plumbing_services... See two pages with the same layout, and if you click around you'll see they're barely trying to hide it. http://find-sa.co.za/directory/category/a1_plumbing_services/page_e.php#pagelink_654082 http://find-sa.co.za/directory/category/a1_plumbing_services... This is 90's stuff. Google's being gamed badly by the most unsophisticated techniques. The guys who actually work in those areas and provide relevant services must be going crazy.