Thread: Is SEO an art or a science?

What do you guys think?

Is SEO an art or a science?

@annkur, @sharduldoshi and I were actually debating on this at Blog Camp.

I think it is a Science as it is the same for all sites, there are just steps to follow again and again.

Hmm, if I have understood the question correctly according to me its more art and less science. Majority of your SEO, depends on building links, and building a backlink is a art. The way you communicate with people and convince them to place links on their websites is the toughest art. It is the art of creating content for link bait, it is the art of using keywords the correct way etc etc.

Cheers !

Originally Posted by shardul

Hmm, if I have understood the question correctly according to me its more art and less science. Majority of your SEO, depends on building links, and building a backlink is a art. The way you communicate with the person who gives you a backlink from his website is a art. It is the art of creating content for link bait.

Cheers !

You do have a valid point and I guess many people will agree with you. Guess each one to their own idea.

ahuh.. art backed by science.

or art that uses a science.

Hope this is what I had answered during BCP2

I'll say on site SEO is pure science and off site is an art and science in synergy.

I think that in a sense it is possible to consider SEO/SEM as a science more than an art.

The reason is simply because a successful SEO/SEM campaign is based on standard processes that if followed will always bring results.

Or maybe, I should have said proper SEO/SEM based on facts is a science while random amateurish SEO is an art where success is more a stroke of luck than the result of scientifically proven steps and actions.

SEO is an art and at the same time a science.

Why is this so?

SEO is a science because the true results of any search engine optimization program needs to be verifiable, quantifiable and, most importantly, they need to be proven that it makes economic sense.

SEO is an art because some rules and formulas implemented in some search engine algorithms change constantly, further complicating the SEO landscape.

Thus, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the science and art of achieving higher visibility across today’s most important search engines. Such visibility needs to be delivered to the users on a carefully selected and pre-identified list of highly relevant keywords and key phrases to be really effective.

ART!

Think about the social aptitude that goes into knowing what people want, what they want to hear and learning to have rapport.

That's an art form

It is a combination art and science. It is science in the way we use lot of tactics in repeated way. It is art in the way there is always new things and new tactics which seems to be effective.

SEO is kind of a guessing game. The search algorithm is always changing. So what is working right now may not work tomorrow.

So I would say that seo is more of an art than a science.