Who is the Rand Fishkin of black hat seo?
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If you had to choose one person to represent the black hat community who would it be?
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Thanks for the Responses everyone!
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Some well known black/gray hats (note, many of these do lots of white hat stuff, too, and some have even retired fully from black hattery) include:
- Greg Boser (WebGuerrilla)
- Dave Naylor
- Todd Friesen (Oilman)
- Kris Roadruck
- Rae Hoffman
- Ralph Tegtmeier (Fantomaster)
- Bob Rains
- Neil Patel
- Eli (from BluehatSEO)
- Frank Watson (AussieWebmaster)
There's loads more, but black/gray hats often like to stay under the radar (apologies to any I've forgotten; I'm sure it's more than a few).
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That's pretty much the story! He also goes by Mick Sawyer sometimes, though I believe his real identify is still unknown to all but a few.
Just to be fully transparent, the Newsweek reference was a big deal, but as I noted in the recent "Story of SEOmoz" post, it was a surprisingly low traffic + branding driver compared to our launch of the Beginner's Guide and the subsequent Slashdot coverage (followed by dozens of other blogs/resources). Combined w/ the Newsweek press, though, it definitely gave us a nice bump
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There was a guy who went by the name "Earl Grey"
Rand can thank this man for getting him a break.
Earl Grey was interviewed by Neesweek as a Black Hat, when asked by the interviewer if he knew white hat SEO he could interview he gave Rands name, and SEOMoz boomed from that point.
Forgive me rand if i have not got the facts correct, but thats the routh story.
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Thanks
Most are probably trying to stay under the radar so Matt doesn't get 'em.
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Know of anyone who is currently active? (I spent 10 minutes trying to phrase that sentence in the nicest way possible)
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The late G-Man might not be the most famous but deserves mention.
Loved and missed by all.... even tried to go under the radar of Matt Cutts.
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