Reporting your competitors is no more an SEO strategy than a heavyset person complaining about what good genes her skinny friend has is a weight loss technique.

That analogy works if the end-goal is to be skinny. However, in most cases the end-goal is to be more attractive than the other options. The fatties aren’t shooting for perfect, they’re shooting for “better than the rest.” Therefore, if a fatty wants to rank number one amongst their peers, they can exercise and eat smart like everyone else… OR… they can blow up the gym and set fire to Trader Joe’s. But like you said, the latter option is a waste of resources.

The part that I hate the worst is how Google’s gotten everyone into this mindset that if you’re disobeying Google’s guidelines that you’re somehow behaving immorally. To me that’s some very bitter kool-aid yet some people in the biz just can’t get enough of it.

The best way to be successful, is to focus on how to be better and not how to harm others

great post!
There’s always going to be a “wannabe SEO” who will report you or try to take down your site just to get on your nerves. I have the urge to do so many times, but I have only reported those sites that opens up a popup to download some computer virus scanning software.

Real SEOs don’t need a lot of those dumb tricks that will rank you high. (not talking about content building either) :)

But an occasional report is helpful, and total abstinence is leaving money on the table.

If Google goes after a whole category, all you need to be is better than average, not squeaky clean. Just better than the guys you’re reporting. Relatively, you’ll benefit. But you guys are overestimating the great and all-powerful Google. Here’s what happens when a report is made:

- Most are ignored. Nothing to gain, nothing to lose.
- Some are followed up and the site is punished. Everything to gain.
- Only rarely does Google have the free resources to try to target a while niche. In that case, as long as you are cleaner than others, you’ll benefit. But even the act of defining a niche and identifying all parties is tricky, and you may slip through the net altogether. Remember, you’re snitching on inbound links, not keywords, so identifying your site is not a trivial thing for Google, unless you’re stupid enough to use that Webmaster Tools account.

“Karma”? Is that a joke? Are you a Hindu or something? That’s just not scientific. Or are you being metaphorical and saying that your reporting may leak out to an enemy or an enemy may be able to follow the tracks back? Sure, there’s a chance of that, so you consider it. You don’t talk about your snitching. To anyone. You don’t do it if the niche is small enough that the suspects will be few in number.

But these risks are small. Google doesn’t send out press releases saying, “Thanks to a tipster we have killed such and such a site.” The site just goes down in the rankings. And as SEO professionals, we know that any number of factors might have been responsible. So the only waste of time would be the victim trying to figure out if revenge is necessary, and against whom.