TerryCox
Not sure stating someone isn’t an SEO is accurate if they aren’t familiar with the mark-up, I think it comes down to "the more you understand of how the web functions, the better you can be at SEO". Someone who doesn’t get this level of detail can still improve the visibility of web pages in search results, there may however be instances where someone that does is at an advantage.
Excellent analogy and totally agree. If I had to guess, it was probably that R&D that fueled the expert recommendations that went into the "SEO Ranking Factors" articles on SEOMOZ, which is an article that alot of strictly white hat SEO’s find quite useful. I think we should always push the limits and bring back our learnings, but just be weary that there are an aweful lot of people out there that consider themselves "Advanced" that probably aren’t. To me, advanced means you could be handed a new computer, and turn it into a search friendly, database driven mega-site by hand.
I would agree with Lisa in that, at least on the SEO side, there were a couple sessions that were walking (if not pouncing over) a line. Now, I think all the tactics that were presented should be done by someone, and the effects tested, as thats really the only way for our industry to determine how the algorithms work. But I disagree that they should be presented to an audience so they can go out and practice them. I’m most worried about the folks that attended the first couple of sessions, but didn’t stick around to here Matt state how high risk they were. Some of the speakers, like Michael Gray, did make sure to point out when he would, and would not, use the tactics, and that the best place for some of it is with "throwaway" domains. I think he conveyed that well.
Story: You’re not an SEO if you don’t know these by heart!