Evolution is a powerful force, and as applicable to SEO and Internet marketing as it is to the natural world. You either adopt to keep up, or find yourself on the verge of extinction.
Natural selection; the process of "selecting" the species that is best suited for the environment. In nature there is no conscious thought behind this process. It is not a matter of anyone choosing anything. Some situation in the environment changes, and a species will either adapt to it (which means that the individuals within the species that are genetically predisposed to survive and reproduce in the new environment) or they will fall into extinction.
Consider this in the realm of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). Natural selection, on one level, applies to the way websites can gain natural search engine rankings. Think of the search engine algorithms as the environment that you are trying to survive in. (This shouldn't be much of a stretch... since the search engine algorithms really do represent the environment you are trying to survive in.) On occasion, something happens to the environment, changes it in some subtle or even disastrous way. Suddenly a number of species that depended on a certain facet of the environment will be selected against, and a new species that is more suited to the new environment will take their place.
There are, of course, some differences between natural selection and natural search engine selection. The main thing about the section process online is that we actually have a chance to change our fate or genetics and re-adapt before the forces of evolution drop a metaphorical asteroid right in the middle of our marketing campaign.
Things can happen. Procedures that helped a website one day can be worthless the next. One day meta tags are the key to success, the next day they are the equivalent of the dinosaurs, which is to say an extinct species that everyone loves to talk about, but doesn't actually have any direct bearing on our daily life. We'll dig up their remains on occasion and examine them, but their days of ruling the environment are long gone.
Missing Links are always troubling elements as well. You can deduce that something is supposed to go there, but you haven't found any real evidence for it.
Links are how you trace progression. One thing leads to another, and that's how we begin to understand the current situation of the species.
But when links go missing, that's where the problems start.
In SEO, links are extremely important. We all know this, but sometimes we put ourselves in positions where we can lose them. And a Missing Link can be very detrimental to the marketing process. There was a huge change in a large environment recently that basically erased a lot of links of a specific type.
This sudden change in the environment caused a number of previously strong to suffer in various ways, not least of which was sudden drops in the ranks of their pages.
Once again, though, in SEO there's a way to keep yourself protected from the forces of evolution. This time around the environment decided to eliminate the links that didn't seem natural. Funny how Natural selection only seems to like things that are, in fact, natural. As a result the sites that showed a natural progression weathered the changed very admirably. Every species needs to progress if it wants to survive. And the environment likes to see you progress naturally.
You can't skip steps in evolution. You also can't force evolution. (At least not ethically.) But in the case of online marketing we're given a chance to keep up. If we stick to the established practices we will be more likely to weather most major changes. These things will help us survive, but not necessarily thrive. On the other hand, too many risks and you will be forced into extinction. The key is to stay on that cutting edge. The edge that will help you keep up with SEO trends without overstepping the natural laws.
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