Why SEO is BS

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

eoghanmccabe

New Member
Hi guys,

I'm putting together my arguments for my view that SEO is BS as a follow-up post to this discussion and I want to make sure that the views of the SEOs that disagree with me are included.

I've put the following questions to Dave and Richard (as I see them as representing the SEO scene) and would love to hear the general consensus of those on these forums too:

1. If a site, built from scratch, is constructed using industry-standard best practices (semantic markup, IA, usability, accessibility), is SEO still required? If so, why?
2. Do you think on-site SEO practices are perfectly aligned with the interests of the visitor?
3. What do you consider as acceptable off-site SEO practices?
4. Do you think that successful SEO (i.e. SEO work that gets sites and pages ranked well for the search terms of their choice) is good for the internet?

Many thanks in advance for your thoughts.

Eoghan
 
G

glengara

New Member
"I'm putting together my arguments for my view that SEO is BS.."

Bit late for that I'd have thought, be surprised if the boys respond....
 
G

Gavin

New Member
I was thinking that too.

Eoghan why not just tell us why you think SEO is BS to begin with? You already made the statement without explaining why.
 
mneylon

mneylon

Administrator
Staff member
Eoghan

Shouldn't you have put together your arguments BEFORE you attacked the SEO people?
 
Cormac

Cormac

New Member
glengara said:
Hey Camino, that site of yours, you having a dig at Dave? :)
Click to expand...

Fantastic! :)

Back on topic...I don't think it's even worth replying about the topic of this discussion. This thread serves no purpose other than discussion bait.

This thread is bull****.
 
E

eoghanmccabe

New Member
blacknight said:
Eoghan

Shouldn't you have put together your arguments BEFORE you attacked the SEO people?
Click to expand...

What is it about this forum that people can have a discussion without jumping at each other's throats?

Bad choice of words on my part. I'm gathering my arguments in the form of a structured post and would like to make sure the views of the SEOs that wish to defend their profession are represented.
 
G

glengara

New Member
"I think SEO as a stand-alone service is bull****"

That seems to be the kernel of Eoghans' "argument", a favourite one of Kens' and driven mostly by the understandable resentment that the tail now appears to wag the dog.
 
Redfly

Redfly

New Member
glengara said:
"I think SEO as a stand-alone service is bull****"

That seems to be the kernel of Eoghans' "argument", a favourite one of Kens' and driven mostly by the understandable resentment that the tail now appears to wag the dog.
Click to expand...

I think that pretty much sums it up. Sums it up perfectly.
 
G

glengara

New Member
Your man should take a pop at Google, it was only when clients started asking how the site would fare on G that most Irish designers stopped fiddling with their Flash and started paying attention...
 
D

Drang3d

New Member
It all depends what the function of the website is in the first place. If it is used as an advertising medium to bring in new business then SEO is very important. If the website is an online app for existing clients it wouldnt be as important.

Originally Posted by glengara
"I think SEO as a stand-alone service is bull****"

That seems to be the kernel of Eoghans' "argument", a favourite one of Kens' and driven mostly by the understandable resentment that the tail now appears to wag the dog.
Click to expand...

Depends on the point of view you look at. If I was an end user who wanted to generate business from my site, I'd much rather a site that mightn't look good, is not code compliant but does convert/generate leads rather than the slickest design, nicest code but never getting eyeballs. I agree with the sentiment that its better to have all three (Design, compliant code, SEO) but which takes more or should take more priority is always driven by the client. Since the majority of our clients are business it comes back to ROI/sales and in that case its SEO that comes out on top. Also just from personal experience some of my clients actually enjoy the competition factor of SEO, i.e. there site ranks higher for their industries key term than their top competitor. It gives them a verifiable answer, i.e. put the search in google , see who's the winner. For the lay person, its very hard to judge which is the better website design from a coding point of view (no coding experience) or from a design point of view (it's personal taste).

Also SEO as a stand alone service is in demand, take for example Red Cardinal, he's considered a valuable member of the community and he offers this as a standalone service. SEO is the new buzz and with all change it's better to embrace it and adapt than fighting it.
 
T

TheMenace

New Member
glengara said:
understandable resentment that the tail now appears to wag the dog.
Click to expand...

In what way is the tail wagging the dog exactly? While I've asked some people with a stronger knowledge of SEO than me for advice now and again, I've never been involved in any client project where an SEO consultant was hired as part of the team. Whether it be for a small business, SME or large corporate. So the assertion that I resent SEO specialists because they're dictating to me how to do my job is absolutely laughable.

glengara, if you're suggesting that an SEO with no understanding of IA, usability, accessibility, Web standards, design and best practice (and the practical application of these) is somehow a valuable asset to this industry, then you're more deluded than I thought you were. There are quite a few SEO's out there who are multi-skilled and they'll probably do well as a result but someone working in a professional capacity as an SEO with no other knowledge or industry background (effectively jumping on the bandwagon) actually invites resentment. If you don't know why, then I'm not going to explain it to you.
 
G

glengara

New Member
"glengara, if you're suggesting that an SEO with no understanding of IA, usability, accessibility, Web standards, design and best practice (and the practical application of these) is somehow a valuable asset to this industry, then you're more deluded than I thought you were." So why are you flogging his SEO Book? Here's a prediction, the SEO bandwagon will shortly become even more crowded :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top