Kay Asks, “So, You Want to Be an SEO?”
I was over at Google Reader checking out the newest SEO posts, and came across one that tickled me. It’s from Kay Dinsdale and entitled, “So, You want to be an SEO?” Kay, I feel your pain and loved your post. Put me in mind of SEO Myths and Bullsh*t’s post of last week, talking about submitting sites to search engines. (See SEO Myths and Bullsh*t) Sheesh. So much crap floating around out there that it’s no wonder people become confused.
Kay’s post rants about SEO forums where people come in posing as SEOs, and asking questions like, “What’s an H1 tag?” or “What’s a backlink?” Seriously. I mean, if you don’t know those things… you need to study WAY more, my friends.
When I first started studying SEO (and can you ever learn it all, really, eh?), I started with Web CEO‘s online “university.” There’s some darned good training in there, and if you go through it all, you’ll come away with a very basic understanding of SEO. That much is really not rocket science.
Web CEO is a software that helps with your SEO, and if you’re not that into it or you’d like a tool to help with keyword research, it’s pretty cool. You add the information for your pages and it does a lot of analyses for you and tells you when you’re lacking or what is overdone, etc. IBusinessPromoter is another of those tools, which is from Axandra. They’re pretty similar in the way they work.
I’ve used both and actually have a pro version of Web CEO that I bought before really diving into the stuff, but here’s the thing… I never use either tool. Once you learn SEO, you really don’t need software to tell you what’s what. I keep saying this, and for the most part, for the typical webmaster, SEO isn’t and shouldn’t be rocket science. Those are the SEO tactics I teach in Spider Language, stuff that anyone who wants to help their search rankings can understand.
The training that each of the companies above provide is really good, though. Axandra also has a weekly newsletter you can sign up for that gives you news from the SEO world each week. I enjoy reading that every Tuesday, and it often gives me ideas to pass along in this blog.
So, there’s lots of training available, and if you want to be an SEO, you’d better start working at it. I’ve read the books, the blogs, the newsletters, and still, I don’t and can’t possibly know it all. When I start seeing stuff that people like Leslie Rhode, Aaron Wall, Jerry West, Danny Sullivan, or Jill Whelan write about, it’s humbling. They really know their stuff, and learning all of it takes some effort.
Plus, what you think is working today may not work at all tomorrow. I’ve been into this for the past three years, and I can point to a few things that have changed in just that short a time.
For example, backlinks to your site are still very, very important, but they can’t come from just anywhere anymore. Paid linking was OK at one time, though Google never really condoned it. But now, Google will penalize you for doing it. (You’ll notice that my text links are gone now. My long-time client pulled out and so, I just canceled my agreement with Text Link Ads. I’ve been bullied enough by Google, and am hoping at some point that my page rank will return.)
Directories are another example. Not so long ago, a link in most web directories was good to have. Now, unless the directory has human editors that evaluate the quality of each link going into it, you can post to 1,000 directories and it won’t matter. Worse, if you post to too many crappy ones, now Google sees that you’re in “bad neighborhoods” and will totally give you some grief.
These two things are huge and are things that changed radically just within the past three years.
So, what’s the point?
Like Kay says, if you don’t know what a backlink is, you definitely ARE NOT an SEO. So, start learning. Read the SEO blogs. And most importantly start testing everything you do. See what works and what doesn’t to help your appearances in the SERPs (results pages). (You notice I don’t mention page rank. Where your site site in the SERPs is way more important.)
Nothing in SEO is written in stone. It’s more like rubber. It’s flexible and changes all the time. It’s the SEOs job to figure out what works and what doesn’t. And then, most of us will probably never figure it out completely. It can be an exercise in frustration, but it can also be a whole lot of fun.
Catch you on the geek side.
Hi Pat,
I used the IBusiness Promoter software, much like you when did the Web CEO software. After learning more from people like you and StomperNet, the need for such software evaporated.
I love your comments about the “Experts.” I wrote a short piece about SEO scammers not too long ago. When I go to some of the “expert” forums and find the garbage like you said, I wonder why the owner doesn't clamp down on it.
Of course, the answer likely is, the site owner likes all the traffic it pulls to the forum domain, so they just keep letting just about everything in.
It surely does drive me crazy to read the never ending, always repeated garbage about submitting to search engines, and the like.
… and of course, no one should be relying totally on SEO for their traffic is they are serious about income. It certainly is great to get all the free traffic, and I surely get my share (not complaining), but make sure at least 2 or 3 other traffic streams are developed.
Thanks for the great post
Thanks for your comment, Wayne. Yep… SEO is great, but only as ONE form of traffic, especially when you're just starting. Once you're on page 1 at Google for terms that are heavily searched, it can become your primary source, but it should still never be your only source. Google is just too danged fickle.
– Pat
Hi Pat,
I used the IBusiness Promoter software, much like you when did the Web CEO software. After learning more from people like you and StomperNet, the need for such software evaporated.
I love your comments about the “Experts.” I wrote a short piece about SEO scammers not too long ago. When I go to some of the “expert” forums and find the garbage like you said, I wonder why the owner doesn't clamp down on it.
Of course, the answer likely is, the site owner likes all the traffic it pulls to the forum domain, so they just keep letting just about everything in.
It surely does drive me crazy to read the never ending, always repeated garbage about submitting to search engines, and the like.
… and of course, no one should be relying totally on SEO for their traffic is they are serious about income. It certainly is great to get all the free traffic, and I surely get my share (not complaining), but make sure at least 2 or 3 other traffic streams are developed.
Thanks for the great post
Thanks for your comment, Wayne. Yep… SEO is great, but only as ONE form of traffic, especially when you're just starting. Once you're on page 1 at Google for terms that are heavily searched, it can become your primary source, but it should still never be your only source. Google is just too danged fickle.
– Pat