I know its widely regarded as extremely unethical to use photog's names in your keywords of your metatags. It was just brought to my attention that a local photographer (who happens to rank at the top of google when you google "savannah ga wedding photographer"). Sure enough my name as well as another local photographer is there.

How would you respond to this...?

Hi Friend,
May I ask why my name is on your site? Thanks!

Girl that stinks. Are you back in GA now?

Ha! Ha! Okay, but I'm thinking of something with a little more teeth to it. I know why my name is there. I want it removed. I decided to just hand it over to the legal people at PPA.



Jill- Officially in a few weeks YES!!! I have a wedding in Jekyll this weekend then come back for two weddings in Williamsburg before rolling the big yellow truck down I-95 South to Savannah. I never thought I'd say it, but I miss South Georgia.

+1. Adding another photogs' name to keywords is slimy. I didn't know some people were doing this.

Wow, I hadn't heard of that before... I don't really know much about tags, but is that so that if a client googles your name, that other photographer's site shows up? sketchy.

You could start by letting the air out of their tires.

People will do anything if there be no consequence...we are all slimy by nature.

first contact all the photographers in the area and let them know about what this guy is doing... get them on your side... then contact every vendor somehow most importantly the receptions sites and let them know what this guy is doing. Don't directly tell them the situation what you need to do is ask if they are experiencing the same thing or if they heard if this photographer is doing it to them the reception site..

what you're doing here is giving this guy the slimy tag to all vendors in Savannah...

Then suggest to all the photographers to contact this guy via a nasty email or call.

After all this find out if there is anything legal you can do. It might take an attorney letter to make it stop. What the letter needs to state is that you are pursueing a lawsuit unless he removes your name... or you are filing a complaint with whatever legel department that takes on these cases... He might be doing everything legal it doesn't matter. what you're doing is scaring him a little. Also you can file a complaint whether someone is doing something illegal or not. The fact that something has been filed is sometimes strong enough

I'd love to hear what the official PPA response is.

BTW - One time I was shooting an engagement session at a local popular venue, and two other wedding photos (who are my friends) were there. In my blog post for that session, I mentioned how busy the venue was that day, and gave links and shouts out to the other photogs - mentioning them by name. I did it as a little link love, but soon found out that I was coming up #5 or #6 for them when somebody googled their name.

Cheers,
E

<br /><br /><br /

Wow...I got a letter from a lawyer from my ex-employer saying I was diluting their trademark because I stated I use to work there on my about page which is ethical for me to do. (They have too much time on their hands)

I would call them, don't email, and ask them to remove your name. Don't threatened them either until you have to.