What kind of industry is google in?

What can SEOs do about sites that are harmful to the seo  industry and doing a disservice to businesses?

• I'm fed up. I've worked with enough companies who are wasting money on services that are nothing short of SEO scams: directories, link farms, "we get you ranked 1st" kind of crap. I hate them so much, I want to bring them down because they are genuinely hurting business owners, disrupting the economy, and, as far as I'm concerned, criminal. Frankly, I'm shocked they still exist; they get no traffic (Google has figured them out and ignores them - no, that's not true, Google pays attention so it can penalize businesses that use such sites) and it doesn't take an analytical genius to see, after a time, that they are not only not helping but probably hurting; yet businesses continue to pay them because they are cheaper than real Marketing and the promise is appealing, for something most still don't comprehend. So I'm looking for creative solutions. Assuming you agree, what can be done to remove these phishing scams of the search industry? One idea... List them here in the wiki answer(?)

• Answer:

  I can't stand these type of operators either but I doubt there's much we can do about it in the scheme of things. Because you've identified the real problem. businesses continue to pay them because they are cheaper than real Marketing and the promise is appealing Even if there was a list somewhere, would these businesses find it? And many of these operators would simply change names and keep on trucking anyway so it ends up being a really depressing game of whack-a-mole. The problem is that these operators exist because businesses want to believe they can get real business value without it costing too much. Too many are willing to suspend their disbelief when it comes to SEO and digital marketing overall. Frankly, that's not too different from the view of offline marketing. The number one reason small businesses fail is poor marketing. What can we do?What we can do is continue to educate (blog, speak, etc.) and to convert people one client at a time. Even then, you can only explain it to people, you can't understand it for them. What can Google do?Google has done more to help marginalize these operators in the last few years. Panda and Penguin have not only changed SEO practices but they've given businesses a reason to think twice. Before you might use one of these jokers and you'd be doing well for a while but then it would slowly go away and then you'd have to get back on the treadmill and buy your rank again. Now, you might use one of these jokers and in a month or so your site is in the sin bin and your traffic (and business) is completely crushed. It didn't take too many of these anecdotes to spread and now businesses are far less willing to roll the dice on quacks-like-a-duck SEO companies. So there's less demand in my opinion, and the demand that is left are from those who are woefully uneducated in this arena (I sort of want to say willfully ignorant but I'll be nice) or willing to suspend their disbelief because it sounds like a good story for the right price.