I think SEO is not so much a science as the art of anticipating the science. As soon as SEO gurus find new ways to exploit weaknesses in search engine algorithms (remember the keyword tag?), the algorithms change.
What I’m finding to be SEO top 5 or top 10 is different than it was only six months ago. In fact, I no longer include meta keywords or meta description in my proposals or reccos. I do them as a courtesy if necessary, and they’re still on most SEO Best Practices lists. But why waste the time when it’s better spent on the page content?
A blogger recently complained of a possible search engine conspiracy. He and a fellow blogger posted identical posts, yet his post did less well with the search engines. This individual may take a different view if he were to compare the numbers of people linking to his blog versus the other one with identical content. He’ll find his answer there.
And this may help. It’s from Search Engine Land and it’s about Search Ranking Factors.
