steveb - 9:59 pm on May 25, 2004 (gmt 0)

It is so bizarre to actually see anyone actuallyy say, let alone believe this overoptimization nonsense. Normally someone posts about "my site" when talking about it, which of course is silly. Look at 1000 sites at the top of 100 competitive searches then draw some conclusions. The vast majority have either solid seo-within-the-rules, or solid spam-seo, or are a very legitimate site with bad seo that is so powerful it can't hurt itself. The over optimization idea is laughable if you look at what sites are ranking well.

Mostly it comes down to people not understanding what optimization is. If a dude is 15 pounds overweight, he can work out and diet and lose ten pounds and be in better shape. If he loses fifteen via diet and exercise, that is optimized. (Losing 15 only via only diet likely will NOT be optimized though.) But if he loses 20 or 25, or 50, or starves to death, then that is not "optimized" in any sense.

SEO is not some simpleton exercise. It is mixing a variety of elements to make a healthy soup. Too much pepper ruins the soup, even if too little makes it less tasty. The soup is peakly "optimized" with the correct amount of pepper.