There's a common saying that you can't legislate morality. I first read it in a Peter Drucker book, and perhaps wrongly attributed it to him; after a bit of Google-based research, I see it pops up everywhere, often in the context of politics and laws, and frequently accompanied by the claim that all laws legislate morality in some form or another, by virtue of declaring what is right and what is wrong.

It's important to make sure we've got a shared understanding about this one before I go any further. Yes, all laws declare certain behavior to be "right," and certain behavior to be "wrong"; that's their purpose. What they can't do, though, is oblige someone to possess an intention. That is to say, you can legislate moral behavior, but you can't legislate morality itself.

Example: you can make a Good Samaritan law that says you have to help the police if asked (behavior), but you can't make a law that says you have to care about people in your community (intention).

So what does all this talk about morality have to do with Google's shifting SEO guidelines? Everything.

Google wants to present relevant content, so it formulates an algorithm. People want their Web sites to rank high on Google. If there is a way to rank high on Google by adapting to the algorithm rather than by creating relevant content, some people will find it and exploit it. Of course, this circumvention renders the algorithm impotent, and the cycle begins again.

The morality in question is "wanting to generate relevant content," and Google can't oblige site owners and SEOs to want that. All it can do is set up the algorithm to reward external indications of relevant content -- and change said algorithm once the black hats cotton on. Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO, backs me up on this one, according to Advertising Age. At a meeting with magazine executives this week, Schmidt said the search giant doesn't benefit from sites that adapt to the algorithm:

Mr. Schmidt declined to advise magazines on looking more popular to Google's page-ranking programs. "We don't actually want you to be successful," he said. The company's algorithms are trying to find the most relevant search results, after all, not the sites that best game the system. "The fundamental way to increase your rank is to increase your relevance," he added.

This is wise advice from Schmidt, for SERP ranking and life in general. The means is often more important than the end. Now, let me be clear: I'm not suggesting that generating an optimized site is evil, or that the appropriate usage of keywords and the sharing of linklove are amoral activities. What I am suggesting is that, if your true intention is to create a relevant site, all of these SEO practices make perfect sense. What I'm also suggesting is that the immutable Primary Principle of Search Engine Optimization be this: First offer relevant content.

Don't you think everything else will fall into line from there?

This commentary is insightful. I recommend it to others.