In any business field, making sure to protect your business from being taken advantage of through the legal arena is something that every company must be prepared for. The larger you are, the more chances you are to be hit up with a lawsuit.
John Andrews started a Sphinn thread discussing the topic of SEO liability. He sums it up as follows:
I bet you never saw this kind of lawsuit coming! As a professional service provider you obviously know you can be held liable for your performance, for negligence, and for making mistakes. You probably include something in your consulting agreements that addresses that. Your clients want assurances that you are responsible for your actions, and you want to be free to act in good faith on behalf of your clients, working to gain a competitive advantage in the search engine results pages. But the very nature of SEO is competition. For every winner in the SERPs, there are going to be losers. Are you ready to be sued by the losers?
Whenever I think of SEO liability, I always think of Jill Whalen. Why? Well, I am pretty sure her husband is a lawyer and she has been in the SEO space for longer than some of us owned computers. In addition, Ian McAnerin is very active in the forum and he has a degree in law. In any event, if you are looking for some legal advice, I might recommend High Rankings Forum for that reason.
The discussion at Sphinn is just getting started. I suggest anyone with both experience and knowledge to get involved in the thread because for many people, being sued is a scary thing that can have a serious impact on one's business and family.
Forum discussion at Sphinn.
