This video is so cheesy you have to think it's a fake... but I don't think it is. (Hat Tip)
The SEO folks got really pissed off at me for saying "SEO is bulls@#t." last year, but the truth is that 90% of the SEO market is made up of snake oil salesman. These are guys in really bad suits trying to get really naive people to sign long-term contracts. These clients typically make horrible products and don't deserve traffic--that's why they're not getting it organically so they hire the slimebuckets to game the system for them.
Note: There are some whitehat SEO firms out there I know, but frankly the whitehat SEO companies are simply doing solid web design so I don't consider them SEO at all. SEO is a tainted term and it means "gaming the system" to 90% of us.
Now, if you make great content, keep your page design clean, and stick with it you're gonna do just fine in the rankings. Don't smoke the SEO-crack... you'll just wind up chasing your tail as digg and Google closes the tiny SEO loopholes and put your domain on the black list.
PS - And to the SEO idiots trying to "take over my SeRP" on Google you're proving my point exactly. Grow up.. the only thing you're ever going to prove by trying to game my SeRP is that you're low-class idiots.
PSS - This whole gaming of digg/Netscape/MySpace is being called SMO--social media optimization. That's the worst thing I've ever heard of. Anyone who hires an SMO firm is an idiot. The whole point of social media is TO BE REAL NOT FAKE!!! Just be yourself and participate... that's all it takes (and note, participation is not just putting in your own links, it's voting/commenting on/submitting other people's content too!).
Why people hate SEO... (and why SMO is bulls$%t)
Recent Posts
- Facebook lifts 5,000 friend limit. (5/09/2008)
- Systems Engineer, Los Angeles (5/09/2008)
- Sheyla Hershey (5/08/2008)
- Help pick the next host of Mahalo Daily (5/08/2008)
- Marc Andreessen, Roelof Botha, and Marissa Mayer are back as judges for Techcrunch50 (5/07/2008)
Reader Comments
(Page 1 of 3)3. When are people going to realize that great content will always win over crappy content.
Posted at 9:17PM on Feb 7th 2007 by Jeff O'Hara
4. Good call. One point I want to make, re:
"Anyone who hires an SMO firm is an idiot. The whole point of social media is TO BE REAL NOT FAKE!!! Just be yourself and participate..."
So many businesses are busy running their businesses and don't have a clue how to interact with the web today. I've talked to companies who are basically asking for advice on how to get in on the action ("what's all this YouTube and MySpace stuff all about?"). That's where these "SMOs" are coming in. Perhaps the market these SMOs are filling should be filled by qualified, savvy marketing firms. But just as many companies won't go hire an agency, many of these ignorant companies will try to buy a magic fix from someone promising an appearance on the homepage of Digg.
Posted at 9:19PM on Feb 7th 2007 by Chas Grundy
5. Sometimes this blogging / website stuff seems to be like dieting / getting in shape or saving for retirement - a little bit of effort every day over the course of a long period of time is probably the best way to have a quality blog or website and happy readers. But that = work, and lots of people desire shortcuts - some kind of crash diet, protien shake, or hit the lottery and get instant success without putting the effort.
These dudes know it and that's how they make money and laugh all the way to the bank.
Posted at 9:24PM on Feb 7th 2007 by Webomatica
6. Maybe it's just me... but something about his shifty gaze and constipated mannerisms screams 'Integrity'
Posted at 9:38PM on Feb 7th 2007 by Tyler Crowley
7. I'd love to see your list of the 10% you think are doing a great job in SEO. There must be at least 1000 SEO firms out there, so a 100 legit ones, is a good vote of confidence.
I agree that there are a lot of crappy "SEOs" out there, but I don't agree that the good ones are just good web design firms. The good ones are marketers that understand the medium and the customer.
9. Your tone is a bit amusing if it's for the sake of drama. Otherwise, you sound a bit confused and angry. I just can't agree with some of what you say. Maybe it's because I bump into businesses every week. They really are in the dark about even the most elementary aspects of search engine optimization. Some website marketers absolutely refuse to embrace ROI. They think it's a waste of time to tie SEO-driven emails with financials. At any rate, no, you may not do "just fine" with great content and clean design. You know that's not true so I don't get the rant. Toil and tweaking have their place when someone cares about using SEO to achieve the top rankings and increasing traffic. One day that may make more sense to you. Thanks for keeping the debate alive even if you're more than a bit off on some points.
Posted at 10:17PM on Feb 7th 2007 by Michael Murray
10. Real PRO. Yeah!
...BLUERPINT.com
He doesn't even know how to write their own URL.
Come on!
Posted at 11:34PM on Feb 7th 2007 by Carlos
11. Part of the trouble is anyone who believes in SEO/SMO as a legitimate school of thought is busy WORKING on their sites, and likely won't take a substantial portion of their day to craft a post proselytizing the virtues of SEO to try to convert those that are already so vehemently against it.
There are plenty of great SEO's - they're just much more difficult to get ahold of than those who are new, unexperienced, and downright clueless; namely those who are actively out hawking their wares. By the time they've spent two years of 12 hour days learning the craft, posting to message boards and blogs gets about the last billing of the day. Those who learned the right way, and didn't boast while they were learning - will now be busy DOING.
At least you LINKED to a site who has some self confessed SEO's (who happen to also be great guys that put their names on some very cool projects) - perhaps your coming around:)
Posted at 11:36PM on Feb 7th 2007 by Todd Malicoat
12. He *does* come across as one of those snake-oil salesmen on late-night infomercials, doesn't he?
Particularly funny to me is that this "optimization expert" managed to get his URL wrong on the opening and closing shots of the video!
Jason, one spot where I have to beg to differ with you is where you say that good SEO firms are just doing good web design. Good SEO is a mix of social engineering, technical savvy, statistical research, taxonomic analysis, and user-centered design. Putting the entire mixture together goes beyond merely good webpage design, and can mean the difference between ranking competitively or not in popular verticals.
You're right overall, though -- most people can't do it, including many professional SEO firms, so many devolve to trying tricks and shortcuts which are not likely to be sustainable over the longterm. Exploits to spam social media sites would be one of those unsustainable, slimey techniques.
13. 200% with you on this one Jason. SEO are a tumor on the web. I for one vote for heavy surgery.
Posted at 2:02AM on Feb 8th 2007 by Stephan Tual
14. I don't disagree that there are snake oil salesmen, but "90% of the SEO market"? I also don't disagree that people have the wrong impression about SEO, but "90%" of people think SEO means gaming the system? Really?
I suspect feeding a stereotype on a blog is just as much gaming the system, but I don't want to impart intent on your post, Jason. I wonder, though, if SEO doesn't matter, why do you pay it so much attention? I'm seriously curious about that. Is it out of benevolence? A personal mission, perhaps?
Posted at 2:31AM on Feb 8th 2007 by John Andrews
15. >>SEO are a tumor on the web. I for one vote for heavy surgery.
Hey Stephan, what's with those meta tag keywords in your source code? Did your *web designer* tell you they would rock the serps?
Posted at 3:10AM on Feb 8th 2007 by Brian Clark
16. Firstly, that guy IS really creepy... Don't think I'd trust him in any line of business.
I run a online marketing and web design company and I have to admit I disagree with you to a certain extent about you feel about SEO. A lot of good quality content will always get you the best results, but you have to remember that most companies simply don't have the resources to be creating new content on a daily basis to get to the top of the search engines.
Most companies just have a list of services they provide. Take a solicitors for example, if they wanted to be found for "Solicitors Ireland" what should they do? Write content about the role of a solicitor and the different type of services solicitors provide? No, they are competing with other solicitors so they need that competitive edge above the others and if an SEO company can deliver this in the most white hatted fashion, I don't have a problem with that.
The SMO side of things is something that irk's me. It's something that I imagine filters will be put in place soon of enough by the likes of Google to filter out these nasty parasite thingies! :)
17. Your sense of integrity is very much appreciated.
A NYC based web development firm pitched me an SEO solution for Google. They used language like 'manipulating' and 'gaming' while they outlined how they create 'fake' pages that direct traffic to my site.
Having read The Google Story and using it as my primary search engine, I already had a fair understanding how they ranked their results.
In short, they proposed a 6 month program at $10k per month and guaranteed I would be among the top 3 results on Google.
Instead of being excited about the prospects of being #1, my impression was utter disbelief that the firm thought they could earn my trust after listening to their dishonest practices.
Although I'll never get that hour of my life back, I finished wishing they spent my time sharing ideas on how they could help make my site more relevant instead of pitching another 'get rich quick' scheme.
Posted at 5:10AM on Feb 8th 2007 by Peter Connors
18. "frankly the whitehat SEO companies are simply doing solid web design so I don't consider them SEO at all"
For the most part you couldn't get that more wrong. "Whitehat" SEOs don't design website, we take the garbled mess left over by web design agencies and transform the code into something a search engine can understand while still leaving it in the same physical condition. Obviously we'll give suggestions where content and usability/accessibility is concerned but that's usually it as far as the creative aspect of the site is concerned.
As for "These clients typically make horrible products and don't deserve traffic" again it's time to get of your damn high horse. We work for top flight companies who are market leaders in their areas and deserve to be ranking high for relevant search terms. At the end of the day if the client's products don't sell once they acheive high rankings they won't retain us to keep those rankings and we lose out. There's no pint at all working for companies whose products are crap or not relevant to the search terms being optimised for.
And to Peter Connors - "guarantee" is a word that should have you running a mile when it comes to SEOs. Ther are no guarantees and anyone who promises them is a con artist. We simply do our best within the confines of the system - no 'gaming' or 'manipulating' involved - and let the client judge the results for themselves.
Finally, SMO is a fad, a short-lived buzzword (buzz-acronym?). Just wait and see if anyone is talking about it in six months...
Posted at 5:41AM on Feb 8th 2007 by Lazarou
19. Just a question are you dealing with and talking to SEO shops and people who provide only SEO? Or are you dealing with large advertising/marketing/PR firms who have an SEO department? Every industry has some bad apples, but people who are in the trenches, getting their hands dirty, fighting on the front lines, are a heck of a lot different than the madison avenue marketing guys wearing armani suits who figured they could squeeze a few extra dollars out of an account by throwing SEO in house and under one roof.
If you've ever attended a site clinic at a search engine conference where real people put up real sites for search engine engineers and SEO's to help them with you might get a better understanding that for most people SEO isn't bullsh*t and it isn't easy.
Posted at 8:19AM on Feb 8th 2007 by graywolf
20. It appears your employer doesn't share your opinion on SEO as they are looking for people with SEO skills
http://www.hireloop.com/sequoia-enterprise/careers/get_job.asp?jid=job2006121375750592085343516231654
Add your comments
Please keep your comments relevant to this blog entry: inappropriate or purely promotional comments may be removed. Email addresses are never displayed, but they are required to confirm your comments. To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br> tags.
1. That guy's kinda creepy. Even in the new media maze there is still room for people with good voice/breath control who look like they might be over twenty.
I'm hoping this who pyramid comes crashing down soon. Then people like me who write for the fun of it will stop being tempted to make money off the thing (which I expect usually leads to a lot of disappointment). As a reader, the demise of these gamers will (hopefully) make actual content easier to find.
Posted at 9:11PM on Feb 7th 2007 by macbeach