Do You Think SEO Is A Con

[semeon]

Touring the conversations around various webmaster and business forums, it's pretty apparent that a lot of people think SEO=snake oil, and that it's mostly a big con.

While there are definitely a lot of bad apples in the cart - sharks will jump in wherever they can to make money - as someone whose business livelihood has depended on SEO success for the past few years, I find it an odd attitude.

This is especially when people start trying to understand SEO and talk about focusing only on content, and not really trying for links.

Does anyone here have any particularly negative ideas about SEO that they would like to share

[TheIntroducer]

I think SEO is overplayed a little bit, and with the advent of PPC it is far less lucrative nowadays.

And yes, there are still a lot of people out there making money from selling virtually worthless SEO techniques

You also find after a few years that 90% of what you read about SEO is also not quite true

But, good Luck in whatever you do

[Trainer Bubble]

I have seen seo reports from various businesses (not for my site admittedly) and I have to say I have gleaned much more information from my own searches on the web about the topic and this site in particular. Ok so the information I have found has not been specific to my site, but it's current and free!

[solid28]

Hi Semeon,

I think we have to be careful from whom we learn our SEO from. If there are outdated methods for ranking high, then avoid them.

Like getting 1000s of low quality links to rank high; not going to work anymore.

[bragadocchio]

I think SEO is overplayed a little bit, and with the advent of PPC it is far less lucrative nowadays.

The advent of PPC makes performing SEO even more valuable now.

I think we have to be careful from whom we learn our SEO from. If there are outdated methods for ranking high, then avoid them.

There is a lot of information on the web about SEO and SEM. It doesn't hurt to learn how to experiment, and to test things out for yourself.

[solid28]

Originally Posted by bragadocchio

There is a lot of information on the web about SEO and SEM. It doesn't hurt to learn how to experiment, and to test things out for yourself.

Great point. You don't know until you try. But some things, blackhatseo.com/bad-seo.shtml, are tried and truely not quality.

[ethnicomm]

IHMO SEO is like any other tool. You need to understand what it is, how it works and when/where it can be used. As far as negatives go, it's usually bad people who feel that cheating someone to make a quick buck is okay. This negative reputation taints the industry.

The rule I tend to follow is that if it's easy money, there's something fishy going on. The reason I say this is that if it was THAT easy, why isn't the person who figured it out raking in the dough instead of flogging $19.99 ebooks on how you too can be a millionaire!

Like psychics who charge $10 for a reading...why not just read your own future and benefit?

Call me a cynic but I believe in hard, honest work - something that I am proud of and that will allow me to go to sleep with a clear conscience.

[SeattleCPA]

I have used an SEO consultant before... a really great guy, brilliant, but he got out of the market because he make better use of his time elsewhere...

I do think that a lot of the good SEO stuff is learnable (and very interesting) if you just hang out in these forums, read the free articles, peruse the ocassional book, etc.

[tldtim]

SEO is still a valueable avenue of marketing and I agree that PPC only increases the value. However, I'd like to add that SEO is only a tool on what should be an arsenal of marketing tools that you use.

It isn't and most likely never will be the end all or be all of online marketing. Especially with Google being hot for personalized search.

[Old Welsh Guy]

SEO is NOT rocket science, although it does get more difficult when you get into seriously competitive markets like mortgages etc.

When I say it is not technical, I guess that is a lie, because many of the sites that I work on have commissioned me to carry out a report because of non performance, when it is technical design scripting that is causing the bulk of the issues, non spider friendly coding being the main cluprit.

It owould be wrong to say that SEO is bad, That would be like saying morphine is evil. electricity is evil etc.

Morphine removes suffering from cancer patients and soldiers in the field who have been injured. It is also a heroine substitute that can be misused. Electricity keeps premature babies alive, it also kills murderers in legalised life endings. Morphine, Electricity neither good NOR evil.

there ARE people out there who are selling snake oil. but there are equally gullible greedy people who create the market. I have had people ridicule my rates, telling me that I am ripping off hard working people because they can get the actual SEO done for like $50, when I am charging £250 or £500 for a report, and a couple of £hunderd a month to carry out the SEO.

here is the thing though, I know what I am doing. A client I took on 2 months ago was selling £700 a week in goods, and it was hurting him. Yesterday, he sold £479.58 bringing his sales for the week to a little over £2600 NOW tell me SEO is a con.

ANYONE who has the required level of intelligence can become proficient at SEO. it is NOT a quick learn though, ok for sure you can quickly learn tips and tricks, but to gain a complete understanding of SEO and internat marketing is going to take a fair bit of time.

Finally I would say though that selecting an SEO is a mine field, and you should walk slowly towards it rather than run into it blindly.