I learned about the concept of thin slicing from Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Blink”. I can’t really recall what slicing thinly had to do with anything, but my takeaway was: the first reaction of an expert regarding something within their field of expertise should be trusted. Maybe that was the blink part?

When I look back, I can see how this has happened in my own work life. You have an quick, initial response that you can’t really explain. At least not right away. So, you take a closer look, you contemplate, you check your trusted resources and you look for the logic in your “snap” evaluation of the problem. Only then are you convinced that your reaction was totally appropriate and only then can you articulate why.

Eventually, if you’re paying attention, you begin to trust your first reactions more and more. You realize that you are so knowledgable and so in tune with your trade that you don’t need to check everything. In fact, you find yourself checking less and less and believing in your skills more and more.

When an SEO reaches this level, they become incredibly valuable. They no longer hem and haw when asked a question or have to check before they are certain of what they are thinking. Imagine the time saved (which often means money earned) and the confidence that is inspired by an SEO who can spend most of their time actually doing things to help a website, rather than floundering around trying to decide what the best thing to do might be.

Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that I or anyone else knows it all or has nothing new to learn. There are too many variables and too many things constantly changing in our field. But once you know current optimization practices inside out, have watched your efforts succeed hundreds or thousands of times and only need to keep up with changes in the Search Engines, you can spend much more of your time doing. Your value as a consultant soars when you can help others resolve their problems in half -perhaps, much less - of the time of your competitors.

This is probably what I have felt to be “The Zen of SEO” for the past couple of years. I was feeling it, but didn’t really know how to describe or explain it. Now, with Gladwell’s help, I can.