The Truth Bar

While most people will tell you that SEO is all about building links to Web sites, there is one expert who will tell you that SEO is about building a searchable Web ecosystem. The step away from simple link building toward creating a searchable Web ecosystem spans orders of magnitude in thought, theory, and practice. The Art of SEO has been covered by many people but its science has been addressed by only a few.

Science is the accumulation and cataloging of knowledge. The knowledge can be gathered by empirical means through observation and experimentation or it can be acquired through logic, mathematics, and statistical modeling. In search engine optimization many people have attempted to describe the art of SEO through statistics and models but their logic does not hold up well. That is because they don’t fully understand the science of SEO.

Search engine optimization is not the study of how to rank Web sites in search engines. It is the study of how search engines, searchers, and Web sites all work together. Of course it is the goal of many people to develop highly the art of SEO through practice and application of both theory and science. The challenge in bridging SEO theory with SEO science lies in truly understanding how the many parts of the system work together.

Some people in the SEO industry try to prove preconceived notions with very elaborate arguments, detailed graphs, and numerous unsubstantiated anecdotes. Their efforts deserve recognition because they rise above the buzzy noise of mostly useless muck articles but they still lack the credibility to advance the science of search engine optimization. When SEO art does meet SEO science, however, the result is a beautiful thing to behold.