Comments on: Science vs Reality: Do Not Obey Scientists – Practice What Works in SEO & Beyond

By: AstroGremlin

AstroGremlin — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 05:57:38 +0000

Science is tested by its ability to predict behavior of a system, not merely describe what has happened. My SEO efforts have created successes and failures but no clue how to predict which will be which. I now rely on superstition.

By: Hamish

Hamish — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 19:29:18 +0000

As someone who works with Science and Scientists, this article is very interesting. Science is not always the truth, because a, Scientists make genuine errors and b, scientists make errors based on where the next pay cheque is coming from. Working at the edge of knowledge mistakes can be made the real problems arise when scientists get over excited in order to prolonge funding. BSE / CJDis a good example..More people die each year from Wasp stings.

By: smashy

smashy — Sat, 21 May 2011 11:43:42 +0000

I don’t think so. Scientist shouldn’t be blame for whatever reasons if some of their predictions are wrong. They have great help and contributions especially in the field of medicines after all.

By: annagusto

annagusto — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 17:25:42 +0000

science or reality? it has a big difference.. but they are likely the same…

It’s up to you on what you believe…

By: Dan Advicegraphics

Dan Advicegraphics — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:51:30 +0000

Yep, SEO it’s not a science it is a tool. But marketing and psychology – yes. You can’t be a good sale person if you don’t have a deep knowledge of customer’s behavior and understanding of whole sale process.
SEO is just a tool like a pencil. But first of all you have to decide what you want to create, after that – practice on you technique.

By: Angela

Angela — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 15:08:07 +0000

Google’s algorithm changes all of the time, but the same methods have been working for a few years. We are dealing with minor tweaks, nothing major to the point where people are loosing their incomes.

By: inkodeR

inkodeR — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:58:58 +0000

Dude – awesome write up. Do you have other blogs where you write about things you are passionate about? will check this again in the morning when not so tired… PS you need a mobile plugin.

By: David

David — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 05:27:35 +0000

When I entered a computer science program at university, I found out that the discipline has its roots in philosophy. Years later working in the industry, I realized that computer programming is more an art than a science. True, there are many formal definitions and statements of an algorithmic nature that bear resemblance to mathematics but beyond that and actual coding, many aspects fall into the art domain. In recent times, rather than to try to dissect across art/science, I have come to separate theory from practice. Without execution, one can never know if an idea was good or bad – it merely remains an idea subject to debate as to its merits.

I believe SEO falls into this arena of theory versus execution. There is so much SEO talk where I simply don’t know if it is true or not (i.e. how much is speculation versus demonstrated proof). Google has over 200 signals which they use to rank pages. The “equation” that considers those signals in varying weights is a guarded secret (and ever changing as the article points out). Google explicitly has practices in place to prevent people from discovering and gaming the system. Yet SEO professionals will come to you and sell you services which may never yield your placement to top-10 for competitive keywords. I have pages that are in top-10 but that is because they are in lowly demanded/competed keywords. I have responded to SEO pushers by saying “I will pay you when my page reaches the promised top-whatever position” but they do not go for that. I wrote a page on my site on “Tips for finding an SEO provider” (but I am not supposed to link here). Not only is there plenty of debate abound but people are parting with their money in hopes of SEO placing them higher in search engine results.

Let me add that it is not the case where I claim no one knows how to do SEO. I just don’t know who to trust and I would rather mitigate my risks by paying later rather than up-front. I am sure there are practicing professionals who possess the cause-and-effect know-how to make a site rise in SERP ranking.

On your recent response: I think the people that get it, get what you are writing about. I bet there are a great many that don’t get it!

By: onreact

onreact — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 21:06:18 +0000

Thank you for the feedback guys, good to know that some people get what I mean here. I wasn’t even sure this was really clear.

By: charlie

charlie — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 23:39:09 +0000

I like what Nick said in his comment above, “I have built my own SEO/marketing business on “what works” rather than “conventional wisdom” (though sometimes they are not mutually exclusive) and it is working pretty nicely so far.”

As for my approach to seo, it’s a matter of common sense and experimentation (i.e. the scientific method). Come up with an idea that makes sense, and then test it to see if it works. The important thing is not to let “science” get too far ahead of “common sense”… i.e. quality content and long-term thinking!

Bottom line: You’ve written another great blog post. :)