Thanks for reposting. Thats very interesting and gave me a couple of things to think about (mainly how will I distinguish myself better).
It's common sense that a lot of people are blinded from. Why should someone rank better than another company because he submitted his website to 500 directories? It shouldn't... and Google's technology will suffocate the sites that think they're better than they really are. It's almost sexy, isn't it?...
I wonder where it is all going to lead. BS links need to be discredited. There was also some talk recently about Google punishing sites for paying for links. Now just how are they going to determine that? Dig into peoples bank accounts? I was reading earlier on several other sites about what Google is planning to do with sharing info with State Gov agencies and I just keep thinking about the movie "The Terminator"...And then the machines came...Makes you wonder a bit about who will be running who.
Thanks for the article. I have wasted way too much of my time trying to apply link building strategies really. No doubt some of them have worked, but I spend too much time on it when i should probably just be improving my site and trying to build link bait and articles which people will Digg/Stumble and bookmark of their own free will.
Search engines are just a means to find something by asking a question. In the past people would go to trusted sources for information. Advisors, well connected people, radio stations etc.. We now how millions of people trying to be the #1 answer to questions people may ask, why? To profit. That is why screened resources are always going to give a better answer to general questions. If you want good advice do you ask someone you trust or do you take advice from strangers? A good SE will screen rubbish sites from its directories, it will list sites whose content is verifiable by association and credentials. Blogs with mindless babble, article without research references, and plain old online service do not answer peoples questions. I believe linking will help the search engines find you, but nothing more! The content of your site, the usefulness for answering the searchers question will determine where it is ranked. The ranking of pages based on the number of links is ludicrous in today’s Internet. Considering the advances in semantic indexing, artificial intelligence and parallel processing, coupled with intelligent toolbars installed on users machines that monitor and report back searches, pages visited, timings etc. Do not think for a second that linking is a sustainable way to remain popular in the SERPs. The only way to make money in the long term is to build a legitimate business. Treat your customers well, advertise with clear intentions through legitimate channels, and network with fellow businesses. It is disappointing that the internet has given birth to a generation of thieves, short-cut hungry, opportunity seekers who think it is OK to cheat the system to make a few cents while providing no real value to the world what so ever. What do you think? Let me know!
Like people who buy Script software which automatically generates 300 sites within seconds, and then sells it on sites like this, only to have everyone in the thread support the product, as if it is a great idea? Even when confronted with the fact that they are only Spamming, they desperately deny the truth, even resorting to threatening actions to desperately maintain their delusion that their spam tactics are legitimate methods of income production. Or am I wrong?