Google’s John Mueller at least twice this week had to respond on Twitter suggesting that SEOs do not break the rules, go against the Google webmaster guidelines, simply because others are getting away with it. He said it two different ways to two different people this week:
So you’re saying you’d recommend your clients to break the guidelines too, if they were to seek your legal advice? “Others are speeding and getting away with it, maybe you should give speeding a try too.”
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) February 14, 2019
Good example, but truth is, many do go above the speed limit all the time. 🙂
They might be ranking well despite these things, not because of them — no need to copy their bad practices, when you know better!
— 🍌 John 🍌 (@JohnMu) February 14, 2019
Just because someone is doing something against Google’s guidelines and they rank well in Google, it doesn’t mean what they are doing is helping them rank.