I recently read an article that points out the very slow growth of SEO this past year. It got me thinking.
The first point the article made is that SEO is not rocket science. This is true. In the numerous speaking events I have attended this past year, I definitely point that out. SEO firms who try to act like they're rocket scientists are liars. If you have a desire to learn, you can. We stay on top of this space by reading blogs and forums available to the public. People that do it everyday just make it seem simpler than it is.
Next it states that marketers are realizing that SEO is a "fix it once" business. In highly competitive spaces this is not always the case, but for 80-90 percent of our clients it's true. Unscrupulous SEO's know that really strong rankings attained using white-hat methods will stay after the 6 to 18 month period.
To summarize my thoughts: 1) SEO is an opportunity cost business. A firm currently working with experience optimizing hundreds of web sites and 20 to 30 clients will have a much better idea when making changes and when a methodology should work. Those who work with only a few sites work dangerously. When a method works for everyone but a single client, it's easy to deduce something else is wrong. Constantly adjusting a methodology may take 2 years as opposed to 6 months with a broader test base. Many of us could fix a toilet, and many of us shouldn't. It's not worth our time to do it wrong. (more…)
