And? I really do not get how a tweet from Google contradicts the fact that their search engine is hot garbage that incentivises spam, centralised silos and "SEO tricks" like what CNET is doing.
I don't have any agenda, it just seems like important context. c|net is doing something stupid and apparently it isn't even going to accomplish their goal. Maybe this statement from Google will help convince other companies not to do the same thing.
FWIW, I'm as mad about Google quality going downhill as anyone's. The problem of sites doing stupid things for SEO purposes goes back at least 20 years though.
SEO is not reliant, and is often contradictory to statements like the one you quoted. No one who takes SEO seriously looks at what Google says. They look at how Google behaves.
Source: used to professionally offer SEO services.
