Comments on: Advanced SEO Tips & Techniques

By: Analytics For Organic SEO

Analytics For Organic SEO — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:55:06 +0000

[...] expand from the Advanced SEO post I want to share some analytics metrics that can be used to help understand your search [...]

By: Carlos del Rio

Carlos del Rio — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:40:56 +0000

I used to work with a Sales Manger that would say “Were going to do the SEOs to your site and get you to the top of Google.” He also talked about PPCs — “If you get the PPCs you will start making sales immediantly(sic).”

To me “If you get the PPCs,” sounds like a disease. Mike, send me an e-mail we should have a more substantive conversation off-blog.

By: MikeTek

MikeTek — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 12:03:12 +0000

I agree - I think Search Marketing and Online Marketing are far better terms.

Maybe I’m just bitter because I’ve worked for a few agencies now and the way salespeople throw around “SEO” in conversation is somewhat nauseating. I’ve heard projects characterized as an “add SEO jobs.” Which has no meaning at all beyond convincing the client that we have some secret laboratory where we can mix up a custom batch of “SEO” and administer it to their website in measured doses. I’ve heard salespeople say things like, “well, we don’t want to give away the secret recipe, but typically our work involves keyword research, optimizing your title tags and achieving the correct keyword density on the page.” Knowing that probably 90% of “SEO,” or what determines search rankings, occurs off the page it’s hard to stomach that kind of nonsense.

By: Carlos del Rio

Carlos del Rio — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 05:00:41 +0000

Thanks for your thoughts Mike. A number of people have pointed out that SEO is a stupid phrase. We don’t optimize search engines. We are never going to come up with a good definition for a phrase that literally depicts something we don’t do.
I am a fan of “Search Marketing” because that is actually what we do — market using search engines, or Online Marketing for those things that aren’t search.
In the strictest sense Advanced Search Engine Optimization is done by people like Udi Manber (head of Google search quality team), not any search marketer.

By: MikeTek

MikeTek — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:25:13 +0000

Great post, Carlos.

I’ve been nodding off on a lot of the usual SEO debates lately. I just see so much bull crap being slung around - the “field” is one that has a low bar of entry since anybody with a computer and internet access can assume the title of “SEO.” And everyone has their own definition of what SEO is.

I agree with your rebuttals of the attemps to define “Advanced SEO” you’ve cited above.

To me, spending time debating definitions in this way is an utter waste - which is one of the reasons I’ve made myself scarce lately. I stopped seeing the value in much of the discussion.

White hat, black hat, paid search, usability, social media, design, analytics - these are all invaluable tools, means to the end of leveraging the web to build attention, participation, revenue. There’s just no clear way to pin down their relation to “advanced SEO” - mainly because that term is a shell for whatever web development / internet marketing fodder any Joe Schmoe wants to shove inside for the sake of argument.

Maybe someone will drop me a line when there’s a consensus on the definition of “advanced SEO” or even just “SEO”…but I’m not holding my breath.