Fraud doesn&#x27;t become legal just because someone has a clever idea for SEO. You&#x27;re scenario only works in a totally unregulated environment. Internet businesses are not magically except from the types of regulation found in every other industry. The entire point of a regulation is to place limits on behaviors that harm society when left on their own.<p>However, focusing on my suggestion of transparency and verification misses the point. The method by which Google regains (and maintains) the public trust is their problem, and I&#x27;m sure that more than one solution exists.<p>My point is it would probably be in Google&#x27;s best interest to fix this problem, because waiting too long has consequences. At some point, the people who feel that are treated unfairly by Google - <i>it doesn&#x27;t matter if they are correct in that belief</i> - will fight back, which has already started in small, preliminary ways.<p>&gt; The outcome would be ugly.<p>The outcome would also be ugly in a future where a socially-necessary service is controlled entirely by a single entity. As usual in these situations, the best situation is somewhere in the middle.