After seeing yet another tweet about Google's use of clicks and engagement as a ranking factor, I started to wonder why some SEOs chase these "white whales."

What if one day, Google just said...

G: "Yep, you got us. We totally use clicks and engagement in the algo."
SEO: "Ha! I knew it! I knew it!"
G: "Yes, you're very clever. Now, what are you going to do?"
SEO: "What?"
G: "What are you going to do with that knowledge?"

SEO: "Well, we can tell people to optimize for clicks and engagement, of course!"
G: "Aren't you doing that already?"
SEO: "Well, I mean..."

G: "I mean, clicks and engagement were already important metrics for optimizing content. Why do you need us to tell you that we're optimizing for them?"
SEO: "Well, yeah, but..."

G: "We told you to optimize for speed and mobile, too, but you should have been doing that anyway."
SEO: "True, but..."

G: "But, you just want to be able to say you're right?"
SEO: "Yes."
G: "Um, hmm."

"For there is no folly of the beast of the earth which is not infinitely outdone by the madness of men."
― Herman Melville,