SEO is in some ways a science and at the same time a craft. Given that the search engine algorithms are kept possibly more secret than ‘The Colonels Secret Recipe’, none of us know for certain the definite answer to any SEO question. Our theories of what works and what does not work, must be informed by experimenation; however working with multiple variables in an uncontrolled environment means that we can never be 100% sure that our action is the sole driver of the reaction.
If Immanuel Kant was alive today, I think he’d be an SEO on the side. I think the combination of knowledge fuelled by common results of repeated experimentation, combined with the all- too- common Cartesian doubt (did we really drop a place – or did they gain a place) would seriously appeal to him.
So, it is with some sense of compassion that I wanted to reference this hilarious Google result for the search term “Google Ireland”. Have a look at the top ranking results…
Notes on a small Ireland
How good is that?
Maybe someone did a misspell in the meta keywords, cos – like New Zealand is an Ireland, right? Of course the search engines don’t use meta-keywords to inform the ranking algorithm though.
Regardless. My point is that SEO is an inexact science, though we can use learned inferences and experimentation to support our hypotheses, but when all is said and done – even Google can fall foul of their own algorithm.
Diddums.
Nichola is Founder and Director of theMediaFlow; with over 10 years experience in online marketing, over six of which in search. Nichola learned all about search at Yahoo! as head of UK search partners. Nichola Stott's Google Profile
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