Writers google their own names like models glance at their reflection in every mirror they pass. It is both a personal obsession and professional obligation. As a writer, I am always concerned about where my words might be published. Google gives a fairly accurate view of what has been printed where. Last week, I was surprised and extremely annoyed to find that my name was being bid on as a Google AdWords keyword phrase. Every time a searcher referenced my name, an ad for a book on SEO that I have never read or endorsed appeared. I have no idea the content of this book and do not know if I would recommend methods and techniques expressed in it. Nevertheless, there was the advertisement appearing under my name.
My first reaction bordered on outrage and I immediately took my issue to the Best Practices SEM Forums run by South Carolina based SEO Doug Heil. There, I found a number of other well known SEOs with the same problem, their names were also used in the same campaign. This brought about a lengthy and at times heated discussion about the ethics of bidding on personal names in an AdWords campaign. (NOTE: The marketer did remove my name from his campaign after I requested its removal as he has for others who made similar requests.) Nevertheless, this raised a number of ethical questions and put myself and others in a rather strange and uncomfortable position.
First of all, the law regarding the use of a personal name in this manner is unclear. On one hand, my name is associated with the SEO industry and I have benefited from the publicity. That makes my name a public entity and it can be argued that by crossing the line from private thoughts to public publishing, I made my name fair game. On the other hand, my name is my brand and it is my oldest personal possession. At the end of the day, it is all I have to market my ideas, services and reputation. As a writer and independent consultant, my name represents my product and I am obviously quite touchy about use of it. At the same time however, I have taken no steps to trademark my name and obviously can’t put a copyright on it as there must be others with the same name on this planet. From this point, it would appear that I have put myself forward without protecting my main asset. In all honesty, it never occurred to me that I would need to. There’s a lesson well learned.
Next, I was not asked permission by the person marketing the product under my name. As a point of etiquette, one would expect an email or phone call requesting my consent but, sadly I was caught by surprise. Again, I am not sure if use of personal names was illegal but I do believe it was “under-ethical”. The use of my name by competitor as a keyword phrase for advertising (in this of all industries) frightens me, especially as I can not fully control the use of my name without challenging it in a court of law. While I could scrimp and save to afford a legal challenge, such action would cause great hardship in my personal life and chaos in my professional one. Going to law is never a pleasant path.
Lastly, while unsure on the legalities, I am certain this practice is bad for the SEM industry as a whole. The reputation of our industry has been improving over the past two years however many still consider search engine marketing to be a mixture of sneaky tactics and snake-oil. Ethical, hard working SEOs know different, however, I believe we are still behind the eight ball of public perception. Along with many others, I have made it personal a mission to present search engine marketing in plain language and to offer what I believe are useful, ethical tips to webmasters and other SEOs. When my name is used to push a product I have never seen, a tremor of worry passes down my spine. A thousand theoretical “what-ifs” suddenly become real questions. What if the product is one I simply could not endorse? Unless one knows how bidded or contextual advertising works, one might assume the appearance of the advertisement beside a listing of various articles I have authored implies my endorsement. That idea bothers me and I think it should bother others as well. As search engine marketing professionals, we all know a lot of different methods of manipulating results. A really good SEO can do almost anything at Google as demonstrated by recent ranking competitions and our everyday work. The marketer who placed these ads, is in my estimation, a very talented and creative SEO. Apparently he is a nice guy as well. Within the industry though, we need to trust each other on a professional basis. Without that trust in our own industry, how can we possibly expect others to trust us as a legitimate business sector? As the larger advertising firms get more interested in search engine marketing, many independent operators (most of the sector), will face intense pressure from well financed competition. If there was ever a time SEOs needed professional courtesy in the sector, it is now.
I guess the bottom line on this issue is a personal choice. As far as I know, there has never been a legal challenge to the use of personal names as keyword phrases. This wasn’t my first experience as a keyword phrase though it is the first time my name was used to promote a product I am totally unassociated with. Personally, I don’t think it is an ethical tactic, however I also don’t think it an illegal one either. It does present a number of interesting questions though.
Jim Hedger has written a widely read search marketing column for over five years. Co-host of Webcology on WebmasterRadio.FM, Jim is a writer and SEO consultant with Metamend Search Engine Marketing in Victoria BC.
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