While SEO has undergone a transition over the years, from inscrutable practice to something that’s a little more clear-cut and easy to communicate, many business owners still see SEO as a ‘dark art’ with machinations unknown to us mere mortals.

This is, as it always was, down to the fact that Google doesn’t tell you explicitly how to rank in search. This alone adds an element of alchemy to the role of an SEO. Your job is to scry the SERPs for a glimmer of an insight and test that hunch to breaking point.

Stirring this mystic brew are marketers playing on the mythic ambiguousness of SEO, spinning a yarn and peddling Fool’s Gold, making grand promises and delivering only dust.