Steve Rubel's 'SEO Shenanigans' presents a real irony... and teaches a worthy lesson
I know Steve Rubel well enough to know he didn't write his recent SEO Shenanigans post solely for the purpose of linkbaiting. In fact, I'm betting he probably didn't have using the post for linkbait as a motive at all.
Nonetheless, the post he wrote decrying the use of social media for the sole purpose of influencing search engines is ironic when you consider just how "sticky" it became as a result.
Consider these numbers... 340 Diggs, 60 saves to del.icio.us, 69 blog reactions listed in Technorati, and nearly 6,000 links according to Google for the keyphrase "seo shenanigans." I went through several pages worth of returns and they all linked to the post directly or to another referencing it.
So, I've been giving this some thought and here are a couple of conclusions I've drawn. (Feel free to tell me how wrong I am.)
1. Steve wrote this post for the purpose to which he alluded... to "create value"... to add value to the ongoing conversation about the interrelationship between SEO and social media.
2. The post is a self-fulfilling prophecy and, therefore, serves as its own case study. Steve said, "Any brand that plays in this space should be aiming to create value. Do that and the other stuff will follow." Well, shazzam!, darned if it didn't happen.
Now, the finger-wagging he did in the final paragraph aside, I tend to believe the force of his argument. Add value to the conversation and SEO goodness will follow. Like I said in my previous commentary on Steve's post, it's not a matter of either/or, but both/and.
