Is SEO Ruining The Internet?

As a search engine optimizer, it’s always amusing to hear what others think of what I do for a living. There are very different perspectives on the whole field of SEO depending on who you ask. Search engine optimization is looked at this cool, super advanced tactic that can bring money to small businesses. To those who have tried and failed to show up on the first page of Google (for highly competitive terms), search engine optimization is all hype. Of course, there are people who think of SEOs as being unethical and no better than Blackhat hackers.

John Dvorak at PC Magazine seems to be one of those people who have no love for SEOs. I can understand that. He makes some valid points about why SEO is ruining the Internet. But let’s see if he is being fair. Here is how he defined SEO:

Essentially the process involves tricking Google or Bing or Yahoo into ranking your particular Web site higher than the competition by reverse-engineering the tricks used by Google.

I can assure you that there are a lot of SEOs who are not out there to “trick” the search engines. Sometimes you have high quality content and an unclean code. Do we look at how search engines treat each ranking factor? True. But it’s not tricking if you are trying to help Google and other search engines find your website and give it the exposure it deserves. Some will abuse the system, but bundling everyone in one group is just not fair.

It’s all underground and consists of thousands of individual specialists who consult for just a few companies and chat among themselves in the background.

This sounds like a conspiracy theory. It’s true that some top SEOs consult with each other and discuss ideas. I do agree that blackhat SEOs jump on Google algorithm’s holes for short term gains. But I have gotten many websites to the top of Google, and I have not done it by going underground.

The problem, as I see it, is the horrid results of certain searches ruining the enduser experience. Try and find the best cell phone deal on the Internet… Every hit is some commercial site trying to sell you something. … What if I don’t want to buy anything and just want to find out about something or know the facts?

So all affiliate marketers are terrible people, and search engines are not to blame for the lousy job they do in weeding out some of these sites? I also don’t believe there is anything objective about PC Magazine or other top portals. Everyone is biased to some degree, including you John!

Are SEOs to blame for everything that is going wrong on Google and other top search engines? Should affiliate marketers just stop putting their review sites together? I believe the FTC is trying to keep affiliates honest by asking them to disclose their relationship and going after fake reviews. There are millions of sites on the Internet, and it’s tough to know who to trust. But that’s why consumers should always do their research to find out whether the information they are getting from a particular site is accurate. How many times have you trusted popular portals’ opinions on a product only to find out the product doesn’t measure up to your expectations? If you are looking for search engines to find the best cell phone based on your particular needs, you probably need to wait a bit. We are not there yet with our today’s engines.

I am not a fan of fake reviews and affiliate portals. But if you do your research (using multiple sources), it’s not too hard to figure out which site is just trying to sell you something you shouldn’t be buying (just going through Amazon reviews will give you a better idea). Some affiliates actually do provide value. Doing “your research” for you does take time, and their affiliate commissions is their compensation. You can’t expect those folks to do their job for free, can you? Are there affiliates who are cutting corners? Absolutely. But if you are not looking to buy and are looking only for information maybe you should change your search queries.

I have bashed SEOs in the past and will continue to do so. There are lots of them out there who just don’t get it. I have even gone after Google and other search engines and paid the price for it. But we are not underground, and there are some of us who actually care about helping search engines find and rank higher quality content. Is that gaming it? You be the judge.