“Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”  Matthew 26:52 (NIV)

Today’s post took me back scripture and without apology.

Most business owners operating in the online space have come to recognize the importance and role that major search engines play in regards to their revenue stream.

From organic or natural search to link building to pay-per-click advertising, businesses throughout the world are counting on search engines to make the cash register ring each and every day.

As much as I love honest search engine marketing and, more so, organic search engine optimization, I would like to share a story with you of a business owner and their business reaping the harvest of a SEM firm sewing bad link building strategies.

Be forewarned about who and what company(ies) are allowed to optimize your website or provide search engine marketing services for your online business.

If your business is heavily dependent upon major search engines or they are the only source of driving revenue, your business that is desperately living by SEM could very well find itself signing a death certificate for a slow and painful death by SEM.

Today’s cautionary tale of living and dying by SEM is provided by a premium generic domain: Candy.com.