Yahoo just filed a patent application that has been attracting much interest in the SEO community. It is for “An Automated System to Improve Search Engine Optimization on Web Pages”

The abstract reads:

“A system and method for automated search engine optimization (SEO) are disclosed. The automated SEO may analyze search query logs, or a search log database to determine popular concepts/units, which may be automatically utilized to optimize a site or page for search engine results. The site or page is edited based on the automated SEO. In particular, the search log database may provide a unit frequency list reflecting the popularity of various units. The more popular units that are related to the content of the page may be used in the automated SEO of the page. The unit frequency list may be compared with the existing units of a page, so that the more popular concepts within the page may be emphasized.”

Yahoo’s proposed automated SEO essentially includes automatic keyword insertion or replacement. Popular keywords are incorporated into a web page so that the less popular keywords are replaced with similar but more frequently used ones.

There seems to be something terribly wrong about an SEO service provided by a search engine. It screams conflict of interest and this is precisely why Google sold off Performics. “It’s clear to us that we do not want to be in the search engine marketing business,” Google’s Tom Phillips wrote in the search engine’s blog referring to the company’s plans of selling the company. “Maintaining objectivity in both search and advertising is paramount to Google’s mission and core to the trust we ask from our users.”

This service could give the websites using it an unfair advantage should the application be made available to the public. The application somewhat confirmed this saying, “Based on the relative popularity of particular units (as determined by the frequency with which the particular unit is searched for) the search engine optimizer may make changes to a page to optimize its presence and position in search results for popular searches.”

The SEO community is abuzz with opinions on the ethics of the application. There are those that find it interesting that Yahoo is trying to expand the scope of SEO while Google is going through great lengths to streamline it and minimize it. For its part, Yahoo’s Manager of Corporate Communications says that it’s too early to get worked up by the service because it is still but a patent application.