The blogosphere is abuzz with the publication of an inflammatory blog post entitled “Spammers, Evildoers, and Opportunists,” written by a web designer by the name of Derek Powazek. The short version of his thoughts is that SEO is pure snakeoil, that good SEO is just good design, and no one should ever pay for SEO.
“Search Engine Optimization is not a legitimate form of marketing. It should not be undertaken by people with brains or souls. If someone charges you for SEO, you have been conned.”
Like all good rants, his comments have garnered tremendous attention and citations from industry voices and bloggers (and here’s me adding to the pile). Danny Sullivan has written on it not once but twice. Over at SEOBook Peter wrote up a nice commentary on the issue.
The Issue
Part of Derek’s whole problem is a confusion and distortion of terms. “SEO” is a term beloved by many and despised by still more. It doesn’t fully describe the methods and/or tactics involved in promoting a website online. “Online Marketing” or “Internet Marketing” is a better catch-all term. What Derek means by SEO is in truth “shady spammers who try to game the system in various dishonest ways.” Guess what – most online marketers don’t do that. Of course everyone is against that – but he’s putting forth his narrow view and experience of this topic as Truth.
All in all his post has been a great opportunity for discussion and commentary – a true example of great link bait at work, whether it was conscious or not. He ends with a statement that I couldn’t agree with more:
“Make something great. Tell people about it. Do it again.”