Google: SEO can help deter spammers

28th April 2008

Websites should enlist the help of search engine optimisation (SEO) companies in their spam reduction strategies, a Google expert in the subject has claimed.

Speaking at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco last week, Matt Cutts said that SEO firms should be seen as friends rather than foes by website operators, reports CNET News.

According to the news provider, Mr Cutts said: "SEO is not spam. Google does not hate SEO.

"There are plenty of white-hat SEO [companies] who can help you out."

Mr Cutts, who heads of Google's Webspam team, was once known as "porn cookie guy" after he offered cookies baked by his partner to anyone who found lewd content they did not want in their search results.

At the San Francisco event, he recommended that site operators use captcha systems to distinguish between genuine users and bots.

He also advised reconfiguring software settings after installation in order to deter bots.