Why SEO Experts Ruffle Goose Feathers
September 25, 2009
I am not an SEO enthusiast. In fact, I am worse than old fashioned. I am absolutely ossified. I believe that Web sites should be focused on solving a user’s problem. That means clear information, useful functions, and no “aren’t we smart” tricks to spoof my 88 year old father. When I read “Experts Offer Search Marketing Tips to Quickly Boost Sales”, I knew that most of the observations were made in a sincere attempt to help people with Web sites that don’t pay the bills. I even agreed with some of the observations. A case in point was the suggestion to include user generated content on sites. But some of the recommendations and the approach taken in the article troubled me. I did not like the phrase “quickly boost sales.” Web site changes may produce some immediate pay off, but the notion that taking Action A will lead to instant cash (Outcome B) is misleading. For some sites, Action A may produce an unexpected event such as dropping in a Google results list. There are a couple of hundred factors in the Google PageRank algorithm and with smart software doing the heavy lifting, not even Google’s wizards can figure out what may have caused an unexpected event. Even more annoying was the lack of qualification in the experts’ statements. If these folks knew exactly what to do to hit the Google home run, would these folks be giving lectures at SEO conferences or would they be sitting home watching the AdSense money roll in?
Stephen Arnold, September 25, 2009
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