Search engine crawls are kind of like meeting your cousin periodically. When you meet there is always a tendency to exaggerate your recent accomplishments in an attempt to impress them. Everyone likes positive information to propagate about them throughout their family. Unfortunately, search engines (like cousins) aren’t easily fooled and embellishments can sometimes work against you.
You see, search engines (like cousins) have the ability to quickly verify your claims and tell you “who says what” through their links and contacts. This makes the whole experience a bit uncomfortable since your comments are not necessarily what you say you know, but whom you know and what they say you know.
This reminded me of a story someone told me about a famous celebrity they met and how the encounter changed their perception within their family, ultimately making them a legend. It was a monthly reunion of sorts; the individual was having dinner with his cousin. The conversation consisted of repetitive anecdotes on recent events when my friend excused himself for a quick biology break.
While in the restroom, my friend ran into a famous celebrity. He pleaded his case and asked the celebrity if they would mind acting like they knew him and saying something nice to his cousin. The celebrity thought it might be fun and reluctantly agreed. My friend went back to his table and continued to converse with his cousin, suddenly her eyes got as big as oranges when she recognized the celebrity approaching.
The celebrity put his hand on my friend’s shoulder and said “How are you, I haven’t seen you in a long time, is this the wonderful cousin you’re always talking about?” My friend turned to the celebrity and abruptly told them “Get lost, can’t you see I’m in the middle of something!” Now at first glance this might seem incredibly rude, but in terms of impressing his cousin it was remarkable.
This brings me back to search engines and how they seem to work in a similar way. You see, a link and recommendation from a highly ranked “celebrity” type site is more valuable when the link is not reciprocal. Of course, now my friend has become a legend, if not in his own mind, ours.
