SEO - which qualities are crucial?

Logic is a subjective term relative to its application and the rules it uses which determine its boundaries. True, in essence, logic has a fundamental principal in its decision making process, but, logic is also subject to rules which, at times, are all that separates it from analytics.

Example: Chess is a game of pure logic. The game itself, the board and pieces, contribute nothing to the logic of the game which is entirely within the rules which govern how the board and pieces are used. Without the rules, the game itself could very well be analytical. It is the very rules (restictions, boundaries) which make logic possible. Without rules, there is no logic.

The difference between the search engines and chess is that although the rules of chess are essentially carved in stone and will never change, search engines must, however, adapt. Yes, there are rules which the search engines strongly suggest we adhere to if we want to play their game, but they frequently break these very rules themselves and maintain an outdated set of rules. Logic does not break rules; analytics does.

If you want to step out of an actual definition of logic and consider it in its misinterpretation as common sense, which it is not, we should look at common sense as it is.

Common sense would tell us that if a bus were heading straight for us to move out of the way. Though that would also seem like a logical conclusion, to be a true logical conclusion moving out of the way would have to be an available variable to the situation at hand. Common sense depends just as much on analytics as common sense, in the generally accepted term, involves learning and the ability to apply that which has been learned.

*I am really biting my tongue to use a generalization of learning rather than refer to it as conditioned response, but that would really be unnecessary for this conversation.

One of the best lessons I learned in 9th grade was when a teacher was replying to a student's question about why he had a different answer for something than what the book said. His reply was 'Just because it is written in a book doesn't mean it is true'. You can apply that same lesson to the internet; just because it is written on a webpage, or in Google's help files, doesn't mean that it is true.

Everything gets updated all the time; often information about those updates is slow to follow. Often we can find out what the new procedures are by talking with those who have discovered them for themselves, and not by listening to someone who has read a help file and swears it is gospel.

I have been told several times by well meaning webmasters (I am being kind) that my techniques were useless and would not produce any results as they were not the 'accepted' means. Their advice has been proven wrong on several occasions. Many people live by cliches (wish I knew how to put an accent on that); nothing is for free, you get what you pay for, etc. The reason why we have so many cliches is that it prevents people from having to think for themselves. People will buy something based on the name attached to it (brand name); and, if asked why they bought that particular item, they will often say because it is a good brand (generic reply) and cannot name a specific reason why that brand is any better than another brand other than they recognized the name. Someone who does their research may well find a better deal of either the same brand or a different brand; but not if they don't do their research. We can call this analyzing.

If we believe everything we are told and only buy the recommended products, well, we can still be successful, but you need to be able to afford all that advice coming from people who live in a sheltered environment and can afford it. If money is no object, then kindly ignore this as you should be able to buy yourself a well designed site and every bit of promotion and placement you want.

Learning is a process which involves asking questions, doing research, verifying answers, and a lot of experimentation; and if we are not doing that, then we are simply being good little boys and girls and doing as we are told. Analyzing something is to learn from it. Following the rules does not necessarily provide knowledge if you do not question the rules and why they exist. Rules are important, as we all need a foundation upon which to build and rules often come from experience, but without questions we will never get the answers we need to build and will just simply have a foundation.

Although all this talk may well seem like an abstract in relation to search engines and seo, it really is not any different. Google is and wants to remain the demigod of the internet, much like Wal-mart is the demigod of American retail. Wal-mart just went throungh two quarters of reported losses. They will continue to go through reported losses unless they can once again con people, and some people are wising up about the unethical tactics they used to get to where they are and beginning to come out of the numbness of having retailers tell them what they want.

The internet, being a worldwide phenomenon not restricted by borders, has the advantage of still being able to tell the search engines what they want. Although Google may seem unshakeable, it is still early in the development of the internet and we have seen Google give in to get traffic in their agreeing to censor search results in China according to government restrictions. Other search engines have tried to be inflexible, and they still have a small audience or are no longer with us. Search engines are willing to adapt to stay or become king of the hill, and they do have rules, but these rules are not carved in stone and are often being updated due to the internet always expanding and changing.

On this board you will find those like Denis and Andy who are well experienced and more than willing to share that experience and not make judgement calls on someone just because they are beginners (there are other webmaster forums filled with people more than willing to take cheap shots at others). You will also run into webmasters, here and on other forums, though well meaning (again, I am being kind), who will basically feed you a cliche (and you can take it for what it's worth).

I am not an experienced webmaster in the category of Denis and Andy (far from it). You will find, though, as I have, that when dealing with webmasters, it is not much different than dealing with anybody else in life. If you can tell when someone is feeding you a line in life, then you should be able to get the same feel for when it is a webmaster doing it on a forum. Myself, I experiment a lot and learn by trial and error (and, like in life, I think my error count is ahead of my success count Grin

). I often irritate others because I will try stuff they tried to tell me not to do. Sometimes they are right, sometimes they are wrong; I would have never learned the difference if I had not tried.

With SEO, there are things you can do which will help you and things you can do which will hurt you; but there is little you can do that will permanently affect you, good or bad. If it hurts me, then I can learn from the mistake, but I would have rather tried than have given in to fear and cliche.

I don't actually know if I came anywhere close to the discussion which was at hand. This has been mostly idle ranting (or is that an oxymoron).

Have fun. Grin