SEO best practices are a source of endless debate in the online world and with good reason. Google keeps a pretty close lid on its secret SEO sauce recipe, leaving affiliates to figure it out on their own in a never ending debate on SEO forums and blogs.
With so many web publishers hashing over the same SEO debates day in and day out, you understand why SEOBook.com recently said, “Sometimes the whole SEO industry feels like one giant Groundhog Day.”
In an effort to put an end to this feedback loop, or maybe just to vent some steam, SEOBook recently published a list of SEO Discussions That Need to Die, by Branko Rihtman. The list a pretty telling look in the mirror for SEOs and we’ll admit to hitting a few of these topics pretty hard ourselves. But maybe it is time to just stop talking about these SEO topics.
Black Hats & White Hats
Does anyone really think we live in a black and white world? Of course not, so why should the SEO world be any different. SEO techniques change so much from year to year that these kinds of absolute labels might be a little outdated.
As a high level talking point, black and white hat might still be useful, but maybe the line is fuzzier than we like to acknowledge.
SEO is Dead
We’ve investigated this issue a number of times and what we’ve found is that the SEO is Dead argument is as old as SEO itself. SEO, the process of trying to raise a website’s visibility to search engines, is not something that’s going to die.
Sure, the various techniques used to facilitate that goal will come and go, but SEO is with us forever.
Rank Checking is a Waste of Time
Rank checking is a tool and, like all tools, it can be used in a positive way. Rihtman points out that PageRank is just one data point in an ocean of web metrics.
His point here, and it’s a good one, is, “It really isn’t a big leap to understand that ranking isn’t important if it doesn’t result in increased conversions in the end.”
Jumping to Conclusions About the Latest Google Update
Google updates like Panda and Penguin have a huge and immediate impact on web publishers so the Chicken Little response that follows them isn’t all that surprising. While Rihtman understands this urge, he does suggest that maybe we could all take a breath before jumping to conclusions about their long-term impact.
Finally
While there’s nothing wrong with talking about SEO issues, Rihtaman is suggesting that maybe it’s time to stop talking the same old subjects to death and work on something a little more productive.