I think you're overlooking a critical component of the Google equation: the supply. Webmasters * constantly* complain about the impenetrability of the 'algorit

I think you're overlooking a critical component of the Google equation: the supply. Webmasters * constantly* complain about the impenetrability of the 'algorithm' and how it constantly changes for secret reasons. So you're right in a way---the demand side doesn't care how you manage to curate supply, but supply is intimately aware of your curation and worries about being unfairly demerited.