Is Search Engine Optimization a Valid Form of Marketing?
Derek Powazek posted a great attack on SEO.
He leads with a bold argument:
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.
And summarizes:
That’s it. Make something you believe in. Make it beautiful, confident, and real. Sweat every detail. If it’s not getting traffic, maybe it wasn’t good enough. Try again.
Then finishes:
It’ll take time. A lot of time. But it works. And it’s the only thing that does.
I agree with Derek. At the end of the day, the way to succeed is to provide real value. Geosign is the perfect example of what Derek is arguing against. (Read about their here today, gone tomorrow story). Geosign ultimately was not providing real value, instead they were providing the least value they could by creating low quality content sites and using all the SEO techniques they could muster to monetize those sites with ads. One day Google got wise to their game, and basically pulled the plug, Geosign was no more.
I do however think there is a role for SEO and SEO experts, just as their is a role for marketing. Good SEO should be like good marketing. It should help people who might find your product/service valuable find it. And like good marketing, it can be done well, and it should be done. If you've got something great, that will help people get something done, you should tell the world.
Seth Godin tackles a similar question, is marketing evil? Just like SEO, I think marketing is not itself evil, but both can be abused and used for evil. A lot of marketing can be dishonest, which like dishonest SEO, only works in the short term.
So, get out there, produce something great, and make sure you're doing all the (honest) SEO and marketing you can to get your product/service in front of people who will care about it.
