My conclusions?
Google wants everyone to depend on them.
So they have modified the concept of guest blogging, which has a specific meaning, and are now trying to categorize that plus every form of webmaster interaction as spam.
Yes, his example of a 'guest post' is one of spam, but personally, I don't consider that 'guest blogging' at all. That is a bartered link (as in bartering content for links) I remember reading a guest post on BlueHatSEO... now that is a guest post.
Overall, this is nothing new. G wants you to be afraid of all forms of traffic except adwords.
I wouldn't be surprised if Matt Cuts starts threatening webmasters (or warning them) that if they do media buys directly with high traffic sites instead of buying clicks, that is now
SEO spam and you will be penalized for it unless you do so in XYZ manner designed to give them more information as to the structure of the web, as if that was their right... oh wait...
You quoting him is the only reason what he says matters. He is a disinformation agent, and people just lap it up. The only reason people find what he says to be reasonable is an appeal to authority, the logic behind what he says is really weak.
Even though there is some variance from my personal thoughts, wish there was a way to like this twice...
Whenever we as SEO's automate something and scale it to spam level proportions... we fuck it up for everyone - it really is a shame!
Take
this post from CC's Traffic Leaks thread. CC drops some epic shit about how to leak traffic to your sites... good, clean, stealth techniques and the first thing on this guys mind is "how can i automate this??" Really... if thats the first thing you thought of after reading Traffic Leaks then you're missing the point... no??
Guest posting went the same way after Google's Penguin update. A tonne of guest posting services hit the market with domain lists of over 100 sites in every niche imaginable... they're still being pimped on the likes of DP and TF. At the same time, a tonne on "niche blog networks" also hit the marketplace, which from what i could see, were just a bunch of random dropped domains that had been re-purposed as niche domains.
I hate the Google Webscam team with a passion... but from where i'm sitting, when Fat Cutts talks about devaluing guest blogging as a form link acquisition... it's because we've fucked it up for everyone by automating it!
This has merit.
Ultimately from my vantage point there needs to be a shift from within the community to something else and position it as such.. Thought this while reading the thread and came across the SCO (Sears Catalog Optimization) comment. Which is exactly the point.
Language is key.
If the language moves away from Search Engine anything but toward other more important points like customers and revenue and "somehow" the entire industry followed this trend in thought and practice, the playing would level then shift.
However, as long as language says "search engine" this or that, there will remain an issue, as any company who operates in that arena has a vested interest to protect. Ranting at this point in the game about him besides for fun and sport is almost laughable. Barring a few exceptions of course.
With all the talent and intelligence here, my concern is why haven't the smarter chaps in attendance not devised and deployed methods to thwart his commentary long ago?
In that, not meaning merely private endeavors but endless tidbits of usable methods and ideologies dispensed to the masses in routine and plain fashion so as to have them thoroughly disregard and dismiss such commentary and likewise continuing that behavior towards any action real, proposed or threatened.
That in addition to changing the language and meaning will have significant impact.
The other and almost more important thing here is your mind and where you place that company in it. It is because they have power there we even have this thread. 7Search could have become a top company if "we" wanted it to.
And not just for arbitrage.
All the mind power here nobody has really thought about Wordpress...
Really thought...
How that company essentially controls the web and took it for free.
What do you really "need" from that other company besides analytics and advertising? Traffic is endless and increasing. New highways get built every few years, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Vine, Pinterest etc...
The only things that stop alternatives to resources and income streams they provide (Cutts' company) are lack of discipline, laziness, fear and greed. That's from within the companies that create these alternatives or from the people using them.
Ad networks, analytics programs and income alternatives find others and raise them up.
Other than that my thought is that we need to think ecosystems (if you are not already) and how to position our various properties within them. Search is just part of it and is really diminishing in the sense of which we have become accustomed.
Platforms and position on them and within them matters most hence the pivots by all the billion dollar companies. Laptops, tablets, watches, smart devices, glasses, tech environment etc...From WildGunner, you heard it here first, "Homescreen Advantage" is the future.
This is where you want to be. Number one in a list is great. However, Homescreen Advantage means you occupy mentally space and your position is of enough value that you come more than first, you become part of your customers thinking, their process. Sidenote:If you do not solicit Homescreen Advantage then you want to integrate or become integral within something that is.
Anyway enough of that
Edison is doing some sort of scheduled outage and this laptop need to rest. Just used it to charge my phone.
