Hi everyone-

Sorry, I was out of town, training a company. Clients take priority. I am not done reading all of the comments and writing a list of questions to answer.

I do use the nofollow attribute on Web sites. I NEVER said to not use it at all. I do not use it as a substitute for site architecture. Yes, I recognize that some "Add to Cart" URLs are spidered, and that is a situation where I might use it, but I'd explore other options via robots exclusion, among other things. 

I will not use it or test it on a Web site for siloing or a substitute site architecture. It is a ridiculous thing to ask me to do, IMHO. Some people should know me well enough by now that challenging me to a contest where people will willingly try to "game" the search engines is against my principles. You can do  whatever you want with your business and your clients. 

Why ask me for advice on "cheap" (substandard) usability testing and information architecture research? You are asking the wrong person because, quite frankly, lowering standards frequently results in substandard conclusions, and sometimes outright erroneous conclusions. If the problem is a site's information architecture, then fix the information architecture. I am not afraid to say this to current and potential clients. 

I am aware that many SEO professionals do not have the same experiences I have, and I have to function in communities that really dislike our industry. Whether any SEO wants to accept it or not, some of the negative opinions of this industry are justified. This whole 'nofollow' PR sculpting thing? I do not believe it is justifiable, just another way to try and game the system. I think some readers might believe i am against the nofollow attribute's usage as a whole. I am not. 

The 'nofollow' usage? Yes, there are some instances where it is needed, but not as a substitute for information architecture. To think that sculpting PR is not a usability issue? Hmmm, I guess I have to side with my usability colleagues on that belief. I do not believe that many SEOs get that Web site usability has a direct impact on search optimization. But that's okay. Do what it is that you want to do. And I will do what I believe is effective. 

I have no problem pointing out to my usability colleagues (and professors) what has emerged and is emerging in our industry. It leads to interesting reading and debates, and the continued negative reputation of SEO. I can hold my own among this group, whose opinions and research are very important to me. I read my SEO colleagues' usability evaluations and have had to replace my broken jaw as it keeps landing on the floor. If I have permission, I show these evaluations to my usability colleagues and get their feedback. 

I get that people will feel I talk down to them. I cannot make all of the people happy all of the time. I change my tone? Someone else will think I am talking down to them. So I will just continue to write my way and deal with the criticism as it comes. 

Always read and respect Kim Krause's feedback. Search usability might be my trademark, agreed, but Nielsen and Moreville have done so much in this area, even though we might have differing definitions of the phrase. My work evolves based on their research and findings. Spool's and Constantine's as well, among others. Honestly, Kim, I think you misinterpreted the point of my article. But we can discuss this in some other venue.

Still not going to use the 'nofollow' attribute to sculpt PR. I'll come up with information architecture's the old-fashioned way: iterative usability testing. I find that it works far better than any other method. 

Sorry, such a long post. Interesting debate.

Thank you for your kind words.

I felt I had to write because a few readers took one of my paragraphs out of context. I have never recommended building one site for Google, one site for Yahoo, one site for Ask, etc. That whole paragraph was written with deep sarcasm. It is not always easy to communicate sarcasm online. :-)

I have always built a single Web site with targeted users and their behaviors as my primary concerns. I am gaining more interest in usage-centered design than user-centered design.

Thanks again!

Such great comments. Fantomaster is one of my favorite people.

Before you get into too much mud slinging and assumptions, I did not come up with the article title. I had a writing block; someone else came up with it. But I got a kick out of it and said to go with it. :-)

I agree with so many of your comments. I know of some very ethical "black hats" and some very unethical "white hats." And, with all due respect Fantomaster, I do not lump in all "black hats" as being high risk.

This happens all of the time when I write. I have a limited amount of words and space, and people take a lot of things out of context. Just ask me to elaborate if something seems awry. I don't mind, and probably a good thing to make me clarify.

Believe me, Bill (Slawski), I echo your sentiments. I wish this "hat" thing would go away and we focus on the things that matter. Maybe I use this terminology out of laziness. I probably do. Your comments inspired this article. I was making observations during the conference and wrote things down. The observations evolved into an article.

Sorry, Natasha, if my life offends you. Actually, I'm not sorry at all. Take off your damn heels. Not everyone who listens to me speak at conferences knows or understands my credentials and background, which provide a frame of reference. I learned  a tremendous amount about information retrieval in graduate school, and it helped me communicate with software engineers more effectively as well as usability professionals. It makes me better at my job and makes me present better scientific information at conferences, among other places. So no apologies.

Conferences can be difficult because the attendees are so different. If I speak in too many technical terms, I lose the non-techies. I can see it in their facial expressions. If I don't speak technical enough, I see many technical/IT people look bored: the folded arms, etc. It's a balancing act.

Instead of berating me, how about taking a library/info science class? I'm saying that to everyone, not only one person. My favorite one, so far, is about the organization of information. I take a lot of classes and seminars and training. I just finished one on software development usability and modeling, which was another big eye opener. I have been able to apply all of these classes/seminars/training to the jobs I do, often within 24 hours of learning something.

Everyone has his or her own approach to SEO. My approach involves a lot of education and training in a wide variety of fields. It's my approach. It's not for everyone. My approach works for me and my clients. I've been able to make a comfortable living with this approach for years. I'm sticking to it because I enjoy it so much.

As I am sure others' approaches work for them. Some approaches? I have issues with them because, unfortunately, as Fantomaster said, some approaches are scam.

These comments are great. I enjoyed reading them.