Yesterday I posted over on Site Reference about checking potential link partners (or site’s you’re considering linking out to, or your site even) for malware via Google diagnostics for those that are interested. It is based on a handy toy Google has for reporting such goodies ;0)

Link Builder toolbox – how to check web pages for malware history

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Going beyond the past

A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions. - Oliver Wendell Holmes

A while back that ever popular topic emerged and once more.. SEO is dead (or does it suck? They’re kind of interchangeable). Has SEO really come to it's end? Before we start nailing that coffin too tightly shut, some introspection might be in order. If you’re an SEO that has lost your way… allow me to redirect (a little mental 301 for ya).

For starters, it would seem that some SEOs want other people’s jobs … from conversions to social media marketing, to try and redefine the roll of an optimizer to that of an internet marketer (term encompassing all the disciplines). I say stop trying to move the goal posts my SEO jesters and look at how your job is evolving, because it is.

I found it interesting that some peeps (like one Bill Slawski) are actually very excited about the future of search engines because they understand how it's evolving; while others have the ‘nothing new here’ attitude. Mind you Bill does advocate balanced approach (beyond SEO) as does fellow Canuck Jeff Quipp in what he likes to call the marketing mix. But that's a different story.

Jeff also suggested that there are also those that predict its demise to see what reaction they get (and others may be failed SEOs). Ok,ok... I get it.

What is the best way to learn SEO?

Today I launched this year’s version of my how to learn SEO over at one of my part time gigs at Site Reference. If yer looking for a mighty link fest of SEO goodiness; go check it out!

How to learn SEO – theGypsy on Site Reference

As SEO evolves, so do the the ways one can learn it. And so I thought it might be interesting to reach out to some of the pros in the search world and see what they felt were the best ways to learn SEO.

What is most intriguing is that there was no two answers the same… seem we all have our own angle on the best way to learn SEO….

While experience is obviously the best way to go… what other approaches do the experts advise?

….here are some of the choice quips from the gang;

Understanding Ranking Signals in a Modern Search World

I was reading a post from Dave Naylor the other day in which he was musing over what he’s seen as a shift in ranking signals and weights over at Google. In short, he seems to be noticing movement in the dominance of links as a ranking factor.

Why do they do it?

One of the more important things to consider is that for a (nodal) link centric search engine aspects such as spam detection are often easier. What I mean is that if we valuate links heavily, it effectively funnels spammers down the path of link spam to ultimately rank. This means that it is exponentially easier than if we used a more balanced set of factors which could be manipulated.

The balance that one would need to weigh is between search quality and web spam control. Certainly not a task I envy.

A brave new world for the link addicted

The problem is when the relevance of results begins to suffer due to the link centric approach and other signals are needed. The more weight various signals are given, the more likely that they can be used by spammers. The more signals we need to monitor, the more resources will ultimately be required.  Not to mention the associated costs that can affect the bottom line. This becomes a problem in more ways than one.

Add to that the fact that delivering results in a timely manner and you begin to see how a search engines can get addicted to a link based approach. Obviously with higher bandwidth delivery speeds increasing, new methods can be implemented.