SEO is a Scam, Or Is It?

That seems to be what one guest blogger over at Webdesigner Depot would have you think. The uber-popular web design blog published a post by John O’Nolan back in Sept. of 2010 on the topic, and from the post it seems that the general feeling was against the need for SEO. In a nutshell, John discussed how simply using the principles of good web design will eliminate the need to focus specifically on SEO for any website. To some extent, we agree. But knowing what we do about the Web as it is today, we can’t fully agree with the theme of that post and what it suggests…especially for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs.

The post breaks SEO down into the categories of White Hat SEO & Black Hat SEO, and goes on to describe what the result of each is from the author’s perspective. And we can see that O’Nolan is not just some random guy voicing an ill-informed opinion. He’s quite well known in the industry for his work with the WordPress UI team, and has worked for such large corporations as Ubisoft, Virgin Atlanta Airways and Nivo Slider. We give credit where credit is due, and John has had a wealth of experience in the industry. And his opinion of SEO as a whole is nearly spot on. From John’s perspective the vast majority of firms and professionals claiming SEO expertise are only concerned with getting top rankings, not helping to bring quality content to light. He expressed his feeling that many of these “seo experts” even use underhanded techniques to achieve what their clients feel are results, but only for the money. In most cases I have to agree with him. Since the concept of SEO became mainstream, it brought on a Youtube-like phenomenon. Think about the virtual doors that Youtube opened up. Suddenly, anyone and everyone could be a star and claim their 15 minutes of fame. It didn’t matter if they became known for ignorant or unintelligent behavior, stupid situations or anything else that painted them in a not-so-good light – as long as they became known. SEO has gone the same way, giving rise to a hoard of “experts” that probably can’t teach you much of anything except how to make a quick (albeit illegitimate) buck. For years (and until the recent Google Farmer / Panda update), the search engine’s top spots were claimed by rehashed, grammatically incorrect articles filled with links to peddle one product or another. Meanwhile, all of the good quality content that couldn’t compete with the rubbish fell to the depths of Page 3 on back.

So in a sense yes, we agree with John on his general assessment of SEO. Does that mean we think it unnecessary, or that good web design principles will shoot you to the top of search engines? Not at all. That would be like me saying good guys always finished first – so not true. When I first read the article, I was a little offended. True, John wasn’t speaking about me specifically or even about our company. But he was speaking about an industry that we’re deeply involved in, in a way that could dramatically affect not only our success but the success of small businesses and solo entrepreneurs. Being a writer, avid reader and web marketing consultant myself, it was like saying that what I do isn’t necessary. But again, I have to remember that John wasn’t talking specifically about me. He did mention in the post that there are a few SEO’s out there who truly do care about helping the good quality content to shine. I consider myself one of these. Like him, I understand that top rankings mean nothing (and are fleeting) if your site isn’t truly relevant or offers no real value to users. It’s the main reason why I don’t just take any job or client that comes my way. The passion for offering something of value and the care taken to create the product is what helps me decide whether to take a project or not. So no, I’m not like the wayward SEO’s John describes in his post, but I still don’t agree with everything he’s said.

I wish I could say that simply adhering to good web design principles will give you the same kind of boost that SEO will, but I’d be doing our current and potential clients a major disservice. There are 2 unfortunate reasons for this. First, I’d like to you to believe that hiring a good web designer will provide you and your new site with everything you need to hit the ground running. Unfortunately, there are too few designers these days who pay the proper amount of attention to simple elements that could boost SEO on their own. I can’t tell you how many clients, for both Web Design & Web Marketing, we’ve had come to us with less-than-satisfactory sites in this regard. Despite being designed professionally, we’ve seen clients whose sites were missing meta tags, alt tags and even solid internal link structures. It’s no wonder they weren’t getting in traction in the search engines. There are also too few designers who build SEO into their design & development. Sure, there are good ones out there who do everything they’re supposed to. But there are far more who do half-baked jobs or no SEO at all. They don’t even set the sites they do up with meta tags and the like. Perhaps the lack of web designers who are willing to marry the two services is what gave rise to SEO as a service industry in the first place.

Next, I wish I could leave you with the impression that a fundamentally-sound web design will put you among the top-ranking search results forever more. Unfortunately, I can’t. The industry changes much too often and too quickly for that. SEO is an aspect of web design that needs regular monitoring, something that few to no web designers or developers do. A good developer may set you up with everything you need from the start and your new site may enjoy first-page rankings for the next few months. But what about 6 months down the road, or one year? The industry changes a lot in just a few months’ time. Sticking with the same old meta tags and link structure may get you good for a while, but the success and traffic will be short-lived if your SEO isn’t given constant attention.

In our experience small businesses and solo entrepreneurs hate spending, probably because they don’t have much of a budget to spare. I understand it, we’re a small business too after all. But the worst thing any web professional can do for small businesses and solo entrepreneurs is convince them of why they shouldn’t spend on something that is sorely need, or scare them into thinking that they’ll be scammed by almost any other web professional they meet. That’s what I feel John’s article has done, and because he’s well-known in the industry his opinion could have a dramatic effect. Unfortunately, that’s only going to hurt small businesses and solo entrepreneurs without the budget or man-power to compete with bigger corporations. If you’re a small business or solo entrepreneur, you NEED SEO. I’m not just saying that because we offer it as a service. The web is much too competitive these days for a site to be found and recognized off of good web design principles alone. Google is working on throwing out the rubbish, and I’m sure the other search engines are too. That will help a LOT. But you’ve still got the major brands in your industry to contend with, and the best way to do this is to provide high-quality content that’s properly optimized using SEO. Our take is, good web design and SEO go together. They should be sold and delivered together. One without the other makes for an incomplete product that not likely to get you the results you desire.

There will always be rotten apples out there, and these are no doubt what inspired John’s post. But don’t let that scare you into not doing the best thing for your website, or into a false sense of security. SEO is not a scam. It’s the people who pretend to be experts but don’t have the Web community’s best interests at heart that make it seem less valuable than it truly is. You’ll achieve good results with good web design, but that’s only half the battle. The next time you’re looking to have a website done, take the time to research the professionals you’re interested in hiring, and look for web designers who build SEO in while sticking to good web design principles. That way, you can avoid the scam artists without jeopardizing your website.