Forever ago, I came across a blog post that used the phrase “Hard Hat SEO.”

I’ve gone looking for that piece a few times. There’s an abandoned URL and LinkedIn profile, but not the post.

I always love that phrase – Hard Hat SEO. The author says, “I’m not a black hat; I’m not a white hat; I’m just trying to get some work done, son.”

That always resonated with me.

Over time, Google has come up with more and more ways to try and discern what is good and what is bad, whether we’re talking about content, links, or behavior. 

As SEOs, we ascribe morality to this corporate entity Google. Yes, some people founded, work at, and continue to develop Google, but anthropomorphizing the entity doesn’t make it “moral” or “just.”

We must remember that Google is a corporation, not a creed. There’s no dogma at Google.

There is business at google. In other words, Google and its employees are just trying to get work done. They get up, they log in and they get work done.

We SEOs need to take the same view. We’re representing our businesses and our clients. We need the same perspective.

Getting work done: Hard Hat SEO.