In reply to Nick.

The behavior is gross and unacceptable for a CEO (or whatever Joost was at the time) on his company Twitter account, but I feel like most of this controversy is the subtext underneath. A lot of people completely annoyed at self-appointed “SEO Leaders” or “SEO Rockstars” who just are not very good at their job (or don’t do their job at all) and stay in the public eye by pumping out a lot of FUD.

I mean, it is a totally understandable frustration. It’s gotten to the point where Google spends a lot of time debunking Rand Fishkin without naming him publicly. Only to have him turn and have a hipster tantrum when they come out and tell him, No you are wrong about Dwell Time, CTR, or whatever else he’s on about that day.

I’m not sure this controversy is the best vehicle for exposing the noxiousness of some of those guys though. Given what Lisa Barone tweeted, it turns into a bit of a trojan Nothing Hamberder.

That said, everyone knows some pretty horrible stuff happens on the SEO Conference circuit. If there is more here, come forward, name names. A bunch of SEOs (myself included) will have your back.