SEO is NOT about Saving the World

SEOs use jargon to refer to their craft.   They want to design webpages that rank well in the SERPs.  They are not out to save the world or to bestow authority site status on the best of the best Web sites on the Internet.

Authority Site Status

Mention an authority site to some folk and they immediately go into a triad about whether or not a particular Web site is trusted enough to be called an authority.  Has it earned Google’s trust, they ask?  I am sorry, but these people are trying to humanize Google.  The last time that I checked, Google was nothing but a bunch of computer algorithms.  SEO is not about saving the world.  SEOs are in the business of writing webpages that rank well in the SERPs.   Why are they passing judgments about trust? Trying to determine which Web sites are the best of the best, is not in their job description.

John H. Gohde recently read an interesting post that touched upon this topic: There is more to trust than links.

An authority site is nothing, but SEO, jargon.  For computers, there is no such thing as a trusted site.  That is just plain superstitious thinking rearing its ugly head in the form of irrationally trying to humanize Google’s computer algorithms.  Humanizing Google wont help your sanity, nor your Web site to rank better.

STOP Humanizing Google

An authority site is nothing, but a Web site in the #1 position in a given SERP, that Google has dynamically generated sitelinks for based upon their toolbar usage data.  SEOs call them authority sites because they simply look more impressive than other webpage listings.  And, thus, they have the appearance of being an authority.  A combination of authority site status and a double listing takes up what appears to be three slots in the SERPs, and looks even more impressive.

Sorry folks, SEOs are not trying to save the world.  They have no business talking about earning trust.  They only want to impress people long enough for them to click on their webpage listings in the SERPs.