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I love the caps lock and the spelling. All caps and misspellings always impress me as to the legitimacy of an argument.
I have little doubt this guy's requests -- and those like them -- work. There are a lot of people with web sites out there who would get this and think it a good deal -- think ma-n-pa web sites where they are well-intentioned, have read a book or two on HTML and maybe SEO for Dummies, and probably still get very hung up on the content of their meta-keywords tags.
There are a LOT of these on the Internet.
Story: Oh my God Dmoz is Gone!!!!
There remain numerous markets where community is an issue. I can think of several commercial markets where community is a serious issue, because one element of community is personal identification.
I can't think of a lot of 'satisfied clients' who want to be a community of supporters for, say, the criminal defense lawyer who got them off. At least, not by name.
Story: Can SEO Be Automated?
It depends on the basis for comparison for 'effective.'
If 'automated SEO' is compared with the proposals some of my clients receive for 'SEO' from some places, I'd totally vote for automation -- I'm talking about those proposals that discuss how the meta-keywords tags are ALL WRONG.
Our developers are automating some of that hoo-ha already. But the process of doing real marketing? That takes some actual thought.
It is well worth the time to examine and even deconstruct the Google brand. They have been masters at creating a public perception via the 'Do No Evil' credo, and for the average user of the Internet, this is believed with a near-mania.
When a company has this kind of image, it gives them a lot of goodwill to play with. More than that, for a company like Google, most users of their service will have no clue what is really going on. The whole idea of a search engine is almost mysterious to many, regardless of profession or education. I like to use my mother as an example -- she's the CTO of a chemical company, and she is amazed when I tell her about things like data collection, privacy, and how data gets reused. This isn't someone who is tech-illiterate, just as the rabid anti-SEO crowd at Digg isn't tech-illiterate.
When I look at Google and Google's brand, I feel a sense of concern about the lack of transparency in many of their business operations, and a sense of concern about how they attempt to dictate the business models of others. Because of market power, they can even succeed in many aspects of that dictation. Their market power also creates barriers to market entry for competitors.
Frankly, I think Google is going rapidly towards a state of anti-trust, but I don't know that the current regulatory environment is going to care.
I really wouldn't think it's purely algorithmic. Failure to rank for the name of the directory isn't algorithmic.
Story: Does Google Know Too Much?
Where TannerC is reassured by the words of a Matt Cutts, I have to take another view.
1. How high up in the strategy of the company are the empowered spokespeople? I'm sure people like Matt believe what they're saying, but it's often hard to see the long-term strategies of the company if you aren't on the Executive Committee. There's also the impact of shareholders.
2. There's a double-edge: Empowered SE employees are at once a source of information, but as likely to be a source of propaganda (within reasonable limits as impacted by being market-traded).
Keep in mind that your primary credit card company, if you have one, also knows a lot about you. The behavioral data that can be derived by either the issuer of your CC, or your bank in general, is nuts.
Depends on how you define marketing.
I know a number of SEOs, even now, who are only about pushing visibility and wouldn't know the 3 Ps if they, well, peed on them.
Have the best SEOs traditionally been marketers, with a strong background in marketing? Most likely, yes. However, have a large number come from places like systems administration or HTML coding? Yes.
Story: Dude. My cats are awesome.
For the record, Matt Cutts ranks for 'nude cats' for me, but your site does not. I think there's an opportunity for you.
How about dodgy SEOs getting their clients Google accounts, so they think their meta-keyword-wielding warriors are getting them 'rankings?'
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Story: Jason Gambert (SEO Trademarker) Banned from Using Wikipedia