Pushing G's boundaries - is it worthwhile and how to manage it ?

[Whitey]

Probably a large part of discussions here are concerning grey areas of SEO not clear in Google's guidelines. These areas may involve tactics which rely on interpretation and experimentation , which seems to be part of Google's strategy to keep certain levels of control a secret. It might also help them secure their algorithmn better , by encouraging folks to play around a little.

So, if you get it wrong your site may be gone into the penalty bin. The more competitive your sector the higher the chances, since you will have needed to push those limits a bit harder. And that's definitely not good news for business' sustainability.

If you get it right , well you may not actually have got it right. You could be sitting on the edge of a threshold of tolerance and loose your site a little way down the track.

And no SEO wants to front up to his/her customer and say

So for business'focusing on sustainability [ otherwise you're not a business ] - is it all worthwhile ? What are webmaster's and SEO's advising their business' / clients to do ? Push or not to push ?

[tedster]

Many of Google's guidelines are not in any sense ironclad rules. They are just what the word says "guidelines". As such there is definitely a range of "enforcement" based on a complex relationship of factors.

Many people who probe the edge will not risk a major, branded domain - they will experiment on domains that are not core to the business.

If you do find yourself in a position where you feel you need to push hard, I'd say the most important thing you can do is keep a detailed changelog of whatever you do. In fact, that's a good idea for any domain - but most businesses I talk to about it find it a burden and don't stay with the discipline. That is, they don't stay with it until their domain gets burned and they have to rely on memory.