Would the Sandbox concept be more accurately named the TrustBox?

NFFC, Lots0, and Massa highlight in far more detail what I was hinting at in my recent sandbox post and what I was trying to say on my WMW panel. Like it or not, SEO is largely becoming a game of public relations in many competitive industries.

Other semi-recent posts about the shifting of bulk spam to trust related techniques:

• risk vs reward in hiring a cheap link monkey

• link spam detection based on mass estimation
• TrustRank
• buying old sites

For those who recently complained that link trading doesn't work, it is largely because most link exchange offers and opportunities are garbage.

A long time ago I thought that search algorithms were going to advance to the point that it would be easier to influence (barter / manipulate / become friends with / etc.) people than search algorithms. With algorithms like TrustRank and the viral nature of blogging you really don't need to seek the approval of all that many people to do well. Put another way, if Danny Sullivan likes and frequently references your SEO website then odds are Google will too. In every industry there are going to be a limited number of people like Danny.

BTW, Danny also recently posted about the move toward trusted links.

If you watch Google close enough you get a lot of good free tips on public relations. They are ALWAYS in the news. And it is on all fronts.

• controvercy (Google Print)

• business (why split your stock when a lofty price makes front page news in the business / finance section)
• technology (too numerous to mention)
• etc etc etc