Over the weekend, a blogger by the name of Dean Hunt asked for advice about an email he had received from an online store who apparently is “competing” with him in the SERPs. Apparently, Dean’s site ranks higher in Google than the online store’s site for a particular search term. From the correspondence, the online store threatened to sue him, because as he puts it, “You have to understand Dean that an online business should be higher in Google than a blog.”

The discourse continued (and the popularity of the blog post on digg crashed his web server — twice) as search engine optimizers began taking note. In one blog response, Loren Baker humorously replies that a BLOG, by definition, means Better Listings On Google. (Marketers who haven’t yet taken note: maybe now you should!)

In all seriousness, however, the request by the owner of the online store is completely unrealistic.

It is often said in SEO that if you are concerned about rankings, you need to make sure you rank better for the term and optimize your page content by whatever means necessary. For example, compare your page to your competition and determine why he’s ranking higher than you for that keyword. Instead of making legal threats, there are better options. Save those legal fees and consider investing in SEO services from a reputable firm. I’m going to assume that he felt that the direct methods of contacting Dean were more likely to yield more immediate results, but truthfully, he made a fool of himself (with the irony being that Dean wasn’t even trying to rank for that keyword term!). I’m also going to assume that he didn’t work with an SEO firm because the SEO would have told him that his request is absolutely ludicrous. Instead, they’d work with him to bring his rankings back where they belong.

At the end of the day, is it his fault that he ranked better than the online store guy on Google, a search engine that he can only optimize well for but not manipulate directly? Of course not.

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