Why Is Everyone An SEO?

[Robert]

Originally Posted by mattlilly

... These days everyone is a social media strategist.

Read a blog post that touches on this topic as it applies to the social media world:

Combating Social Media Inertia
The post is from Sharon Markovsky (sharonmarkovsky) who I've gotten to know through Twitter. Here's an excerpt:

"I have had many bad experiences with ad agencies who bill themselves as social media experts, but who are instead social media tourists. My complaint with these ad agencies stems from their lack of practicing what they preach. They tell you that you have to actively engage people on a one-to-one basis on twitter and other social media sites. Sounds good, but are the agencies doing that on a consistent basis? Hmmm…not as far as I can tell. They will also tell you that to be viewed as an expert and thus to be successful in social media, you need to actively blog..even if no one is listening. Ok, got it. So where’s there blog? Why aren’t they blogging every day? They don’t have the resources they tell me." (emphasis mine)

So, another prime example of companies selling themselves as experts who can't even back up their claim to that status.

[bryanfuller]

The things is SEO is most important thing for online business concern that's why you see everybody is an SEO.

[gotlivechat]

I think the main problem is the barrier to entry is practically non-existent -- it doesn't take but a few bucks/pesos/euros/etc. to set up a website and call yourself a SEO expert. I'm not aware of any 'degrees' or 'certifications', so what's to stop anyone from going into that business?

[Nutty]

@Robert LOL I should rant more often yes

It seems this thread got a little busy, my ranting brought some attention, glad you all agree and it sure made me feel better

xxxxxx

[Sahan Asad]

If you going to use SEO companies to rank your site ALWAYS ask for their portfolios.

Also contact few of the site owners if they have received any services from that company.

[cabdziner]

New to this forum but here is my .02

I think that many people get a little info, play with it for a while, then deem themselves an expert.

Most people don't realize that SEO is an ongoing campaign that changes frequently.

My outlook on SEO is to acquire quality traffic. It is built on content and solid optimization practices that require constant monitoring.

I cringe whenever I see someone "Guarantee" page 1 rankings.

[bradmarcus]

A very good rant. I aman SEO expert because I have delivered proven results and I keep up on all the latest news and strategies. There are so many fly-by-night "SEO" companies, it makes my head spi. I went to the SES show in New York with a friend who commented that he couldn't believe how many companies there were, all promising page 1 Google for any keyword.

Anyone can make a claim, don't hire someone until they can back it up.

[tiresmokindad]

Originally Posted by Robert

Read a blog post that touches on this topic as it applies to the social media world:

Combating Social Media Inertia
The post is from Sharon Markovsky (sharonmarkovsky) who I've gotten to know through Twitter. Here's an excerpt:

"I have had many bad experiences with ad agencies who bill themselves as social media experts, but who are instead social media tourists. My complaint with these ad agencies stems from their lack of practicing what they preach. They tell you that you have to actively engage people on a one-to-one basis on twitter and other social media sites. Sounds good, but are the agencies doing that on a consistent basis? Hmmm…not as far as I can tell. They will also tell you that to be viewed as an expert and thus to be successful in social media, you need to actively blog..even if no one is listening. Ok, got it. So where’s there blog? Why aren’t they blogging every day? They don’t have the resources they tell me." (emphasis mine)

So, another prime example of companies selling themselves as experts who can't even back up their claim to that status.

Yes I agree. Most of the agencies offering for just a little work but higher pay. I think they are not doing a standard works.

[Social-Media]

Originally Posted by Nutty

Hola

I need a little rant, I am getting very frustrated with some of the people I am meeting - majority of people in the web design area all market themselves as SEOs, yet I look at their website and think "well where is it then" - their title tags are not constructed properly and their link navigation is practically zero, yet here they are saying "I can do SEO".

I have even had someone tell me recently that keyword research looks simplistic! Perhaps it is but finding the right keywords to target is not an easy task in my opinion. Target the wrong words without knowing and the end result is zero sales and zero ranks.

It winds me up when I have spent a few years learning my trade so I can offer professional services to my clients to have a newbie come along and pretend that it is all easy.

I have met others who have like 50+ websites all with adsense and these are supposed to be business websites and they try to tell me they are earning anything from 10$ to $20 a day - I don´t see how, the keywords being targeted are low traffic and worth 0 so therefore not enough people to come and click the ads!

So, why do people pretend to be SEOs and does it annoy you, the professional? Or is it just me who has a rant every now and then.

I mean, so what, let them make the mistakes but it is the customers I feel sorry for, they get lead down the wrong path, spend a ton of money and wonder why they are not selling anything!

Right, ranting over and thanks for listening. I will be interested in the replies

Simone

Yes it annoys me to no end... I've found that these "SEO experts" who really don't know diddly tend to fall into two categories:

1) As you described they are web designers "claiming" to be SEOs or
2) They are people in poor, third world countries that have learned a few buzzwords about SEO and see it as way to make an above average wage for their country with little to no investment in time, money, learning, etc.

In BOTH cases, they give the entire profession a bad name IMO.

Web designers "claim" to be SEOs because... well lets face it... no business owner with half a brain wants a new web site designed by someone who knows absolutely nothing about SEO. So they all "claim" to just because they know they won't get the marketing gigs without saying they know it.

The people in 3rd world countries who are claiming to be SEOs... while I feel bad that their countries have a low standard of living and low annual incomes... really make me just as mad.

Both of these types of so called "SEO experts" give the industry as a whole a bad name and make legitimate SEOs have an even harder time finding work. I get all of my clients by referral so it doesn't really affect me that much... but I am constantly cleaning up behind them.

[Nutty]

I too get work by referral as they see my results and want some of the action and quite rightly so

But I spend a lot of my time cleaning up just like you, they come to me with some CMS system which is piece of poo, and all the SEO did for them was meta data! jeeez

Some of these non SEOs are also being paid a lot of money, one company I took over from was spending 3K€ a month with a guy who was being trained by me!!!!!!!!! He came to me because he knew he was out of his depth and wanted to keep his job so I said I would train him and show him the error of his ways.

By the time they realised he was pulling the wool over their eyes, they found out who I was (stupid boy gave them my invoice!), he was booted out and I continued from there, however, it was in such a mess we had to start over.

18K can you believe and still no sales - I don´t know how these people sleep at night!

I live on the coast of southern Spain and it is rife here, there are so many people claiming to be something in the IT line of work and clearly they are not that at all, it frustrates me so much but I cannot help them all as I am just little ole me who works with a programmer (PHP C+, C++), we do all bespoke websites, we do not use CMS (I cannot stand CMS websites), all the programming is written from scratch by us and we have our own PHP library functions, SEO in mind every time we build a website and layout.

Such as life I guess, us pros are just going to have keep helping as many small businesses as we can

Nutty