SEO can no longer be "gamed". Discussion inside...

I posit the theory that SEO is no longer (or at least, trending very quickly to steer away from) a game-able system.

Think about it for a second. It used to be placing a few links in nice places, using a bot to rewrite a few articles for you, and spamming a few key words would get you ranked fairly decently.

Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not saying that doesn't help your rank at all anymore. And I'm not saying certain techniques still don't work (link wheels, etc). But, the places for links, the quality of the articles, the way you use keywords - it's all changed... and for the better.

Links need to come from quality rather than quantity. Articles need to be on topic and well written. You can't just use certain words over and over. Search engines are getting smarter and smarter, and it's actually a good thing for everyone. We're all making better content to drive clicks, purchases, etc. This better content is actually what everyone wants anyway, so it's no longer really gaming the system. If everyone is putting quality content, if the quantity of inbound links means nothing over a few good quality inbound links , and if instead of spamming things we are delivering great content then everyone wins.

The evolution of SEO has trended to people producing what people want instead of folks getting tricked into clicking things they don't want. And that's a good thing.

So here's my question to everyone - do you like that change? Do you think it's beneficial to what a lot of us do?

I personally like it. I think it's a great trend, and the more quality out there the happier I am, even if it means I have to work harder to get my clients ranked higher.