90% Of All SEO is Bullshit?
"I offer site optimization among my services and I couldn't agree more - 90% of all SEO claims are bullshit."...my very own words from a blog -
But - to say the SEO concept is bullshit - is nuts!
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"I hope to promote the truth about Search Engine Optimization, something that everyone with a web site can do for themselves, for FREE, without having to know a thing about technical matters or be fluent in Search Engine Optimization lingo." |
The truth? This is, without doubt, the lamest statement on this subject I ever heard!! If it were that easy, then there would be more legitimate practitioners out there. Fact is, most "pros" don't even understand it.
I have seen nothing substantive about this argument anywhere online - either as an authoritative explanation of how to really do it, or as a credible exposé of why ALL of it is bullshit.
Before you can intelligently deconstruct a subject, you have to be able to construct it, i.e., describe it in detail. I am still waiting.
Furthermore, very few people know the difference between SEO, SEM and SMO. In fact I only learned recently what SEM was when someone described me as doing it. I asked him to describe what it was that I was doing - then added it to my résumé ;-}
- The concept behind SEO is obviously legitimate. A well conceived and well designed page does better in a search than a poorly conceived and poorly designed one.
- It's the majority
of people claiming it as a profession that's bullshit.
- And if this sounds like bullshit
to you, you will never succeed online
When I say well conceived and designed, I mean -
- Textually - and not just the text you see on the surface. In the beginning, the web was a text-only affair - no pictures
- Technically - having lean, uncorrupt code that does not obstruct the bots from parsing the page. If the code is broke - the page is broke!
Buying SEO carries an inherent risk because it is so cryptic.
Click the headings (links) below to expose the details of these prime issuesIf "the average Joe" could figure out Search Engine Optimization by reading the equivalent of a dime novel - would there not be fewer SEO scams - and fewer clients needing to outsource it?
- Real SEO is retro-engineering in, what the original designer was unable to do in the first place
- Got your attention here but I was not altogether fair. If I were to
pit my own sites, built in 1998 or so, against today's finer machinery -
I wouldn't have a chance. Nobody then would have a chance either, because the best
web sites built then had the technology of that day, and that level of tech
does not match the search tech of today. It didn't exist then, and wasn't even in common use as recently as
five years ago.
So, there are two main categories of search-lameness nowadays -
- The site was built correctly for its time, and is now obsolete
- A recent site - poorly conceived and poorly executed
Old sites have old code and need to be updated to be competitive. If your site is still employing font tags and other obsolete markup for text styling you are in dire need of an update. As the search engines push to have all presentation code (layout) to be done in CSS, you will get no mercy if they have to read font tags and other code that outdated. - The science behind a web page is "technologically backed wordsmithery"
- The internet is the information highway and it is 'written in braille'
(live text characters) for blind web bots. If it doesn't exist in live ASCII
text characters - it doesn't exist to the search bots.
The information to display a picture is constructed in text characters (<img src="gag.gif" alt="person gagging">). Java scripts are written in text characters (<script type="text/javascript" src="/gagMe.js">
</script>). Pure and simple.
- before someone even says it, links are made of 100% text. (i.e., anchor text) - If you don't understand word processor syntax, you cannot possibly ever have a clue to SEO
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Html, or hypertext markup language, is the code base that makes the
web the web. It is constructed entirely of
ASCII text characters. Programs
like Dreamweaver are actually very
specialized word processors, designed
specifically to author and markup html, the language of the web.
What's the difference between MS Word and Dreamweaver? Dreamweaver is not designed to do print output and is way better at html. This site uses the .asp extension instead of ,htm or .html. If you look at the source code of this page, you'll see that this is still an html document, authored with a word processor on steroids.
If you don't know how a word processor works, you should neither attempt to design, nor criticize the design of, a web page. If you don't understand the basic structure of a web page, how then would you go about optimizing it? SEO is the exclusive realm of advanced web designers and copy writers. - There is no such thing as SEO software - SEO is all conceived in the mind! There is no software to write a novel either: no plot, no imagination - no novel!
- By this I mean there is no software to create the condition of
search optimization. There are
applications to check search readiness
- I use them too. However, to create that situation to check - you
must have an idea of how to get there.
There is no software to make you smart, or to make you unique. There is no real " Easy Button". - I don't have this point of view because I do SEO - I do SEO because I have this point of view
- I don't demand that you trust me. However,
I will state that I am not stupid enough to knowingly stand on a rug
that could be pulled out from under me at any time - like offering phony services.
Most crooks are not that smart and are usually found out. They don't do honest business because they don't know how to. I do know how to do honest work, that's why I stay in business year after year. I am still doing business with one client I started out with almost 15 years ago. Honest work is a good investment. I wouldn't do anything for a living I would be ashamed of - however, I do hate the sound of the phrase SEO and, unfortunately, some people are not bothered by shame. - Blind Skepticism is as counterproductive as Blind Faith!
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The keyword here is blind, and is similar to
reverse racism, whereby one goes to such lengths to prove he is NOT a racist, that he BECOMES one
by now giving unfair advantage. If you get into a frenzy of prejudice about SEO you will lose objectivity.
The Truth- Legitimate SEO is necessary to compete with other, higher budget sites
- Legitimate SEO is very rare
- Don't leave home (page) without it!
Feel like you've been a victim of an SEO scam or bullshit web designer? Take a short, anonymous survey and help us understand how it happened!
The net has always been full of thieves, wannabe's and outright fakes - via chat rooms, pyramid schemes, whack-o religious cults, Multi Level Marketing schemes, Nigerian princes, and now fake SEO. In fact, there are crowds of phonies and bullshitters.......everywhere suckers eagerly line up to get fleeced - on the net and in the real world!
So - who should we blame for this SEO nightmare?
SEO scammers thrive on the false dream that you can get an "insta-site" from Godaddy for &30.95, find
some questionable SEO tricks for another &99.95 and beat out the New York Times.
You are up against entire full-time staffs of highly paid professionals when you compete online.
Independents can make waves, but it takes a lot of extra work to beat the giants -
before applying any SEO.
SEO can not turn a five page CMS site into anything more than it is
- irrelevant, impersonal "Store Bought" copy drawn from a database.
You need something real to optimize.
Serious players, disregard this - you know what I mean.
But to those of you who think there is a workaround to real honest effort - you deserve to get fleeced!!
- People actually buy from spammers - that's why there's still spam
- Subsistence farmers in the Andes keep growing cocaine - because Americans keep buying it by the ton.
- People keep buying the cheap and easy SEO "magic bullet", so bullshitters keep making "bullets".
What About Social Network Optimization - " SMO"?
Now here's potential for the real bullshit. Although Social Network Optimization has a few skilled professionals operating out there, for the most part, it is the domain of people who have admitted that SEO is too difficult - but - can pull off charging people to upload a You Tube video and steal and paste text into Facebook."
TWITTER - Logically benefits two classes of people
Hiring someone to seed the net with a bunch of impersonal, nothing posts is worthless. Social networking only works if YOU get social and YOU get to know people online. It works the same way the real world social networking works. Links don't matter if nobody clicks them.
- People who have something to say, PLUS a large following
- Those who hang on their every word
I have learned to only use a "judas bull" email address when I enter a Social Network. Otherwise I get 10,000 "invites" from people I never heard of. I spend more time insulating myself FROM social networks than I do interacting with them.
Lame SMO practitioners will eventually do to social networking what spam has already done to email!!I hate the "so called SEO industry" too, because it hinders the people who really do it. Blogger Jason Calacanis' statement "the only legitimate SEO work is being done by web designers" is 100% correct. Who else would know how to deconstruct a web page, and then reassemble it correctly - piece by piece.
The SEO boom is a direct result of lousy web design and semi savvy vultures scrambling in for their share of the carrion. Most of the content presently on the net is a technical wreck.
Not too far in the future, and a few browser upgrades down the pike, old junk pages will just stop working. Future browsers won't display what works in IE6 now.
I know a few people, personally, who claim to do SEO work and none of them knows Shit from Shinola. I would never trust an SEO outfit that couldn't build a web site as well.
"virtual (a): existing in essence or effect though not in actual fact"
"If it doesn't make sense in the real world - neither does it make sense in a virtual representation of the same" ....M. Walls
Use this free meta tag checker - it will expose a fraud immediately
Just input the URL to be checked and you will see how a bot sees the page. Input your own pages too - you may be shocked.
Check this page! Honest professionals do not fear scrutiny.
Use this free W3C error checker to catch sloppy work
Even the meticulous pro can have a error or two on his own site, which usually gets ditched for paying work, but if you see lots and lots of errors - he does sloppy work. Copious page errors affect search results.
Look at the types of errors - using deprecated markup like font tags, unclosed tags and div's, missing alt tags all grade you down in a search.
While in the source view, look for signs that he uses a Content Management System to build web sites - this link will be helpful to understand it. Professional web designers do not use a CMS to build an entire web site.
The bulk of "traffic generator" online site traffic claims, are other people looking for traffic generators!
Google has declared war on search engine spam and artificial link inflation to an unparalleled level by filing United States Patent Application 20050071741 on March 31, 2005.
This public document gives legitimate SEO’s priceless knowledge of Google’s retrieval is based on "historical data" online. We all know history can not be created in a day.
Search Engine Optimization is not advertising or marketing —
it is preparation for it, and anecessity for getting organic search results .We do not do monthly maintenance contracts - what we do sell is honest site upgrades involving, but not limited to, search engine optimization. I have been in the web business before "SEO" was considered a specialty - separate from web design. We veterans learned real search engine optimization over the years - bit by bit, as it evolved. We included it as a normal part of site design. If you are here it is doubtlessly due to any of three reasons:
- Your designer did not give attention to page strength as he/or she built your web site.
- Your site has old code that worked then but not under the new guidelines.
- You invested in shady SEO tricks and now you're delisted.
The first two are curable and we can help you. For number three, my advise is change your name and start over - from scratch.
We are not out to baffle you with a bunch of techno babble, we can make an honest living enlightening you. I like Sy Simms' approach - "An educated consumer is our best customer".......Michael Walls
However, it is not enough for the philosopher to grasp truth for himself: he has a responsibility to descend back into the cave of illusion and free the prisoners of falsehood. ………………Plato