SEO is More Than Just Good Design - A Rebuttal To Derek Powazek

Excuse me if this comes off as a rant, but hopefully it will come off as no more of a rant than Derek Powazek's offensive and narrow-minded post, "Spammers, Evildoers, and Opportunists" (do a Google search, I feel no need to give this post a link).

"SEO is poisoning the web"

First of all, let's point out where Derek makes some good (obvious?) points. The web is a mess, and yes, a lot of that mess can be attributed to search engine spammers. These are the people who, primarily in the first half of this decade, thought they could scam and trick the search engines into sending them unqualified traffic in the hopes of achieving quick wins and easy money.

Since then, the search engines have wised up to these spammy tactics, and are consistently updating and tweaking their algorithms to account for and penalize spam tactics.

Good, honest SEO professionals have been working to establish industry standards and guidelines to separate the snake oil salesman from the honest Internet marketing professional.

"The Good Advice Is Obvious"

Derek, you are so close to making a good point here. The good advice might seem a little obvious to some. And in fact, the best advice is freely available in many top industry resources. If you have the time and the inclination to learn SEO best practices, you can do so for a simple investment of time.

That said, just like any job or industry, it takes a certain amount of time and experience to move beyond an understanding of best practice theory and into the realm of proper execution and the ability to drive business success.

Anyone can get traffic with SEO - the trick, and what separates good SEO from bad SEO is the ability to drive qualified traffic to the website, which converts at a high rate, and drives measurable business goals.

"Make something great. Tell people about it. Do it again."

Derek, what you've described here is essentially social media and viral marketing. And yes, in many cases, this is a tactic that will work just fine. But what if you're launching a brand new website for a brand new company? Or you're working with a little known organization? Or you have a limited social network and a limited budget?

A good SEO is really just a good Internet marketer. And a good Internet marketer will take many available online tactics and combine them into an effective and cohesive strategy.

How many web designers have the time, budget, resources, or knowledge to do all of the following things, and do them well?

• Conversion Optimization
• Organic Optimization
• Usability Testing
• A/B Split Testing
• Top notch creative design
• An understanding of how search engines work
• An ability to walk the fine line between an optimized and a usable site
• Keyword Research Skills
• Copywriting Skills

My guess is not very many. That's why SEO's and Internet marketers exist. The Internet is too large and complex for a single individual or job function to understand it all. Thus the need for specialization… if Internet marketers weren't necessary, we wouldn't be here. But we are.

Let's Level

Derek - I feel your pain. I truly do. Every day I'm fighting an uphill battle against the type of stereotype you described so elegantly in your post. And yes, the industry is still rife with dishonesty and spam.

Let's face it - the next time a guy comes up to you and says they can get your website on the first page of Google for a mere $200 - go ahead and laugh at them, by all means.

A good SEO will ask your company business questions like:

• What category of your business is the most profitable?
• How do users currently find your website?
• How much is a conversion worth to your business?
• What results do you want your website to produce?
• How are you measuring these results?

And will take these questions into account when formulating a plan for driving qualified traffic to the website.

I've always said - I'd rather have 500 visitors a month who convert, then 5,000 a month who don't.

Derek - next time you want to make an overarching statement like "Search Engine Optimization is not a legitimate form of marketing." Or that, "It should not be undertaken by people with brains or souls." Please get your facts right. SEO and Internet marketing is a profession chosen by many hard working, honest individuals who want to do right by their company and their clients.