Most of you read that headline and either thought "I really don't want to hear about Mahalo again" or "No they're not! They're algorithms!!" Well I'm with you on the first one, but you couldn't be more wrong on the second. Algorithms are programmed by the people, for the people and umm...of the people. In other words, every day that passes us by, search engines do a better and better job of replicating human judgement about the quality and authority of web pages. So why do some companies still think you can automate the process?

Loren Baker asks "Can SEO Be Automated" in a blog post about Commerce360's attempt to take that pesky human role out of search engine optimization.

Loren writes:

More recently more and more software companies are offering SEO oriented software which identifies what the competition is doing and the possible holes in their campaigns which you or your client should take advantage of.

But can the entire process of SEO become automated? Or is it a case by case human powered process which is built upon natural copy, relevant semantics, social tagging and real world relationships which bring about the right links and coverage?

Recently Commerce360, a very well known SEO company, has gone in the direction of proprietary automated SEO software in what may be an initiative to be the next aQuantive or Performics style acquisition or change the entire SEO industry if successful.

He includes several quotes from Commerce360's announcement. Here's my favorite:

We're on a mission: to create the future of search marketing. We started out thinking we'd build a next-generation online agency - that we'd be the first one to have numbers, analytics, statistics, technology in our DNA rather than brand strategy and creative.

I wonder...do you think they've attended a Search Engine Strategies conference in the last several years? Read any blogs written by industry experts? If they had, they might realize that search engine optimization is moving away from formulas at lightening speed. With the introduction of universal search, 3D search and personalized search, engines are serving up unique content to different users who enter the exact same search query.

Add in ideas like latent semantic indexing, better link analysis and the VERY real need to have a site that not only ranks well but actually converts and it quickly becomes clear that a human touch is essential.

My friend Matt Bailey likes to point out that the Internet is consummate proof that a million monkeys banging away on keyboards will NOT reproduce the works of Shakespeare. You laugh, but the point is an important one. You simply cannot automate customer experience. Those who try regret it.

There's a place in Internet marketing for automation. Analytics, keyword research, link research and coding all benefit from some level of automation. The key word there is "some." After all, a tool is only as good as the person using it.

Search engine optimization is no longer about running a numbers game. It's not about understanding how to market and how to deliver a good customer experience.

Still not convinced?

Ask yourself if automated phone systems for big corporations have made the world a better place.

Exactly.