"Search, as I see it, is an arms race." Search is not an arms race. If someone provides content of a better quality than others they ought to prevail. So if ga

"Search, as I see it, is an arms race." Search is not an arms race. If someone provides content of a better quality than others they ought to prevail. So if gaming the system is by producing better quality content, then fair enough. If, however, gaming the system relies, as it does currently, on simplistic rules, such as keyword density, keyord in H1, and bold, and italic, and within the first few sentences, and all these other rules, then yes it does become an arms race and it proves really that those awfully talented people and bright aren't really much of either. Rather than getting into an arms race which is damaging for everyone, google would do better to sit back, and ask a simple question, how can intrinsic quality be determined? Links are one way. Another way may be the language level which google has recently announced about websites. On that point, if google is able to determine the level of language a site uses, that is high level, medium or low, then surely google is able to determine the quality of the site? Maybe, google is just too stuck in one paradigm and cant bring itself back and actually focus on the question that matters, how do you determine quality, rather than make some small tweaks which took the seo industry a grand one day to determine.