WebProNews

The Washington Attorney General's Office is less than happy with a Redmond-based SEO firm.  The business and its owner, who have operated through sites including Visible.net, Captures.com, and WebMarketingSource.com, now face a lawsuit.

Washington state accuses Visible.net and Gilbert Walker of a few slippery-sounding acts: not registering as a commercial telephone solicitor, misrepresenting the company's ability to attract traffic, and being quite difficult to contact.

 Visible.net

Things begin to look more even serious as the accusations move on to Visible.net claiming corporate affiliations that don't exist and charging customers' credit cards after they'd attempted to cancel the service.  Also, it seems that the Attorney General's Office and Better Business Bureau received about 90 complaints.

As a result, the lawsuit seeks restitution, "a permanent injunction enjoining and restraining defendants," and "civil penalties . . . of up to two thousand dollars ($2,000) per violation against the defendants for each and every violation."  Plus court costs.

SEO specialists may want to think about the possible problem of guilt by association, and address their customers' concerns as needed.  On the brighter side, if Visible.net has done everything it's been accused of, its removal will make the industry cleaner, and Visible.net's customers may seek other SEO companies to meet their needs.

No court dates appear to have been set just yet.