For this week’s “What would ____ do if they were an SEO?” our SEO company is taking it back.  Way back, in fact, to 17th century Britain where three hundred and seventy-six years ago, renowned philosopher John Locke was born.

Considered one of the most prominent and ground-breaking Enlightenment thinkers, Locke’s contributions to political theory, social contract theory, and empiricism and epistemology influenced near contemporaries like Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant, and David Hume.  In addition, many Americans likely know John Locke as a thinker who inspired the country’s founding fathers - his ideas are reflected in the Declaration of Independence.  But of course, none of this clarifies what our esteemed philosopher would do if he time traveled to the twenty-first century and worked in online marketing.

First of all, Locke understood that “all wealth is a product of labor“, so if he wanted to achieve a top position on the SERPs and reap the corresponding rewards, he and his team would have to work for it.  Furthermore, he would keep up with the latest news, tips and techniques in his field, because “education begins the gentleman, but reading, good company and reflection must finish him”. On a related note, he would likely be open to new ideas and concepts, since “new opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without anyother reason but because they are not already common“.

While he would certainly read and take valid interest in new information, Locke would recognize that careful analysis is necessary before taking action, as “reading furnishes the mind only with materials of knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours.”  According, he wouldn’t react too quickly to any fluctuations in the search engine algorithms or respond rashly to negative comments; on the contrary, he knew that “things of this world are in so constant a flux, that nothing remains long in the same state“.  Now that seems like the perfect quote to apply to the constant changes in the search engine results, or even the internet in general.