“On a meta-level, I think of ‘linkbait’ as something interesting enough to catch people’s attention, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing…. Linkbaiting sounds like a bad thing, but especially if it’s interesting information or fun, it doesn’t have to have negative connotations.”

I’d like to think  of SEOs as having  highlight quality from authoritative sites.  Google rewards sites that are benefiting users and help make the search results more relevant.   Google likes quality search engine optimization  because it is making them money.   It’s not just organic campaigns businesses are running, they’re also running paid search campaigns that utilize programs like AdWords.