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The 3-Letter Hacker Dirty Word: SEO

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It's interesting that whenever you mention "SEO" in the context of startups many folks get very bothered.

I think it's because, as hackers, we view everything in the world as some sort of computer program. We program the computer, we program the car, we program the DVR. And when somebody talks about programming people's behavior through SEO, it makes them feel like they are not in control anymore.

What did the Google CEO say a while back? "People just want us to tell them what to do"

I think he's probably right. And whenever we talk about purposely doing things to change the way Google works? That hits just too close to a raw nerve. No matter how you slice it -- even if you say that the current system of site ranking is perfect -- there's still something disturbing about watching the popularity contest operate.

Last night I had a great interview with Rand Fishkin, CEO and founder of SEOMoz. Rand had a lot good things to say, and I'm still chewing on them. SEO is something that's intrigued me for a while. Because it happens at that boundary layer between the irrationality of people and the rigorous logic of machine code, I imagine it will continue to intrigue me for a long time to come.

If you're interested, the review is over on hn-books. There also might be some discussion over on HackerNews.

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thanks about this information :)

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This page contains a single entry by DanielBMarkham published on February 16, 2011 9:21 AM.

Nattering Nabobs of Hacker News was the previous entry in this blog.

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Recently I created a list of books that hackers recommend to each other -- what are the books super hackers use to help guide them form their own startups and make millions? hn-books might be a site you'd like to check out.
On the low-end of the spectrum, I realized that a lot of people have problems logging into Facebook, of all things. So I created a micro-site to help folks learn how to log-in correctly, and to share various funny pictures and such that folks might like to share with their friends. It's called (appropriately enough) facebook login help