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I would argue that SEO, in the context of google, is really an analysis of how to make your site more relevant to the intended audience. This is not a bad thing

• omouse 18y ago
  It's not a bad thing but it also doesn't require you to hire an snakeoil salesman, erm SEO consultant.
  • tstegart 18y ago
    but there's SEO, and then there's slimy SEO. Too many times people get them confused. There are a lot of smart things to do to earn a higher ranking just by changing the way your site's programming works, and none of them involve link buying, page spamming or underhanded shenanigans.
    • gaius 18y ago
      There is "making a better website" and there is "making a website come higher in search rankings" and the only way to do the latter without the former is by gaming the system.
      • tstegart 18y ago
        What would you say changing your links from using underscores to hyphens would be? Is that gaming the system, or making a better website? I mean, from a programming perspective, it doesn't sound like it makes much difference, but from an SEO perspective, it makes a huge difference. Google recognizes words when they're hyphenated, but not necessarily when they're underscored. Your rankings will probably improve just by doing that. Its simple things like that that programmers should be aware of, and its not really gaming the system, its programming to match what Google recognizes.