The North Face gets a thumbs down from SEO community after manipulating Google image search results

The North Face's agency Leo Burnett Tailor Made covertly updated Wikipedia images to make sure the brand appeared at the top of Google image search results.

Last week, outdoor clothing brand The North Face and its ad agency Leo Burnett Tailor Made, came under fire after the agency updated images on Wikipedia pages for popular travel destinations. The efforts were part of a campaign to get The North Face branding at the top of Google image search results when anyone searched for the corresponding travel locations.
The brand initially claimed it collaborated with Wikimedia for the SEO campaign, but later apologized for the campaign after the Wikimedia Foundation published a response saying The North Face had unethically manipulated Wikipedia and risked the trust in Wikipedia’s mission, “for a short-lived marketing stunt.”
“I am actually honestly shocked this campaign ran,” said SEO consultant and podcast host Dan Shure, “I don’t know how anyone seeing it doesn’t just get a bad taste in their mouth.”

Advertising at its worst

Shure isn’t alone in his shock that a brand would take such a risk. Dana DiTomaso, president of digital marketing and SEO agency Kick Point, called the The North Face campaign advertising at its worst.
“Either the agency didn’t understand what they were doing, or were hoping to mislead people, or both,” said DiTomaso, “It’s also very clear that they knew they would be caught and the ‘sorry we’re naughty!’ response would be part of the buzz the campaign generated.”
Shure called the campaign clever, but a poor decision on the agency’s part.
“There are a lot of ways to piggyback on other strong authoritative sites ranking in Google, but you should only do that if it’s ethical,” said Shure, “For example, you can answer questions in Quora that rank well in Google. And as long as your answer is thorough and not spammy, I see this as a good way to leverage another site ranking in Google for visibility.”
Shure believes the campaign was self-serving and shortsighted on the part of The North Face and its agency.

A black mark on the SEO industry?

Most likely, The North Face’s ill-advised campaign has not impacted the SEO industry as a whole. But, it definitely doesn’t support the industry in terms of how people outside the community view SEO( search engine optimization ) work.
“I think there are people that believe in SEO and those that don’t. A stunt like this will serve to reinforce the beliefs of those that already think it’s spammy, or are not willing to do the homework to see there is indeed a ‘good’ style of SEO,” said Shure.
As an SEO consultant, Shure has worked with everyone from CEOs to writers and PPC experts, and says many people still believe in the benefits of SEO.
“There are a lot of people who are not SEOs themselves, but believe in SEO despite there being a lot of snake oil in the business.”

The ethical implications of trickster SEO campaigns

The North Face’s campaign may have resulted in more exposure to the brand, but at what cost? In its post addressing the campaign, Wikipedia Foundation said The North Face’s efforts were “akin to defacing public property” and its Twitter thread on the topic drew much criticism from people who found the brand’s strategy distasteful.
DiTomaso, who called The North Face’s initial case study of the campaign laughable, said she’s sure it will win an award somewhere because many advertising awards are focused on creative instead of results.
“They [The North Face] said that they collaborated with Wikipedia, which we all know is a blatant lie, and they say that they paid nothing which is also a lie — someone was paid to do this work, even if they didn’t pay anything to Wikipedia,” said DiTomaso, “This is obviously a net negative for The North Face, but the award application won’t say that.” The North Face campaign puts a spotlight on agency practices, forcing the question: Are awards and short-term SEO results worth risking a brand’s reputation. There are Best SEO services in Vail from where you can find out all the services related to digital marketing and SEO.

Comments

  1. Anonymous24 July 2019 at 20:42

    SEO is a very important part of Digital Marketing.. It is also important that brands should manage their alt tags to make image searches easier for users..Search Engine Optimization

    ReplyDelete
  2. SEO Silverthorne CO25 December 2019 at 22:41

    Great sharing!! Short-term SEO results worth risking a brand’s reputation.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How Pinterest Can Help You Make More Money

Image
Here are some of the ways in which you can earn money through Pinterest: Build an Audience and Sell to Them You need to gain Pinterest followers in order to build an audience. The first thing you need to know is ‘what’ you are passionate about.  For example, are you a woman who loves makeup? If you do, then you can choose a target audience that consists of women who also love makeup. Create a Pinterest board to cater to this audience.  After you create the board, you will have to create a mailing list. Once you have a few hundred followers, marketers will contact you with offers to promote their products. Choose A Company and Ask For Sponsorship After you have built an audience you need to select companies that have products that will attract your followers. For makeup, you can contact companies that sell cosmetics. Share your Pinterest stats with them and see if they offer a sponsorship. Promote Affiliate Products Several companies want affiliates that pr...
Read more

A Good Web Design Is All You Need To Begin!

Image
Re-designing a website is a common practice for most small, medium and large businesses today. The reason could be any; but while doing so, many businesses fail to consider the significance of this activity from them when it comes to the digital marketing strategy that will of course take place sooner or later, once the website is created or overhauled by them. In most cases, when a website is going through the redesigning phases, things end up totally in wrong directions and the new design is actually worse than the previous one. The core problem is that web designers and developers focus on one element fully rather than considering the  digital marketing strategy  as a whole. A good example here would be the introduction of novel brand OR in order to amplify the  search engine optimization  potential that a website may have and/or any one aspect that requires immediate attention just because it is in the spotlight during a particular time. One ...
Read more

How Web Design Has Been Transformed By Social Media

Image
Social media has radically altered the way consumers are able to interact with content. Hence, after social media, consumers  want  a comparably similar, intuitive, and interactive experience on the websites they visit. This has led to a transformation in how “a good web design” is  defined  and hence how websites are now being  designed . Here are the “top 7” transformations in web design brought about by social media. 1.  Social Share Icons Before social media, brand visibility and link building was the domain of online directories, forums, creating lead magnets, paid strategies, and direct blogging among others. Now, social media has become one of the most important platforms for increasing brand awareness, generating qualified traffic, and consumer engagement. As a result, social share icon have taken a prominent role in website design. The proper placement of the social icons, and the design of the social shares themselves can...
Read more