Comments on: 5 Ways To Fix SEO’s Reputation Problem

By: Man Ray

Man Ray — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 04:16:09 +0000

Hi Lisa. Okay. First of all, your comment policy made me laugh. You have really good rules around here. Anyway, I have to agree with you on this, "When you show up, you're representing more than just yourself and your company. You're also representing the industry that you're part of." Very well said. I know some people working in private label SEO companies and I commend those who are proud of being part of the field. Companies from different services are seeking help from SEOs to promote their sites, and that's part of their marketing strategies. I think people should be more open-minded, that's all. Everybody's doing business, anyway.

By: JadedTLC

JadedTLC — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 21:18:28 +0000

I agree with this 100%! We need to teach non-SEO people about what we do. I’ve already spoken to my old class in college twice about what search engines are and do. In the meantime, we need to explain to our clients what they need and want. Too often, one competitor “gets an SEO” and the rest feel they need to as well.

I also believe we need to support Online Media recruiters. SEO is too vague when hiring. I had interns who said they had done SEO, but when probed, they were helping to do backlinking without even knowing why that was a part of SEO. This absolutely worries me.

By: JadedTLC

JadedTLC — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 21:07:54 +0000

Thanks @Rob. The car mechanic metaphor is perfect.

And thanks to @Lisa, I agree that our Industry needs to stop being a teenager. I love my SEO friends, but our industry needs to behave professionally. We are interacting with suits now. They expect more.

When you walk into their offices, even the receptionist is dressed up. These are the people who don’t “get” social media, because their personalities are so separated from their business. We, on the other hand, operate where personality is our brand. The only way we’re going to grow our industry into young adulthood is to get it out of its “parents’ house.” Start being the vendor/employee you would expect to work for you.

By: David Ogletree

David Ogletree — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 13:51:15 +0000

@Frank The problem is that most compaines do not want people to know they do SEO and they really don’t want people to know that their SEO is realy good. Most of us have to sign things saying we can never disclose our clients. I can’t brag about the good things I have done without getting sued.

Another Issue is that we do not agree on things as a community. There are people that take White hat so far that they are ripping off their clients and people that do black hat so far they are ripping off their clients. I promise you even in this group of commenters we would be calling each other names if each of us knew what the others were doing.

By: Frank Lewis

Frank Lewis — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 16:00:42 +0000

Let me offer some clarity to the key challenge that must be overcome in order to change the perception of this industry. Most SEO firms offer tactics not well thought out plans that integrate into Internet marketing strategy. This industry is over saturated with thousands of nebulous service providers, most of who promise unreasonable expectations and have little of any broader marketing experience. Why? Any person can get started with little if any working capital and because this service sector doesn’t require credentials or licensing. Anyone can self proclaim themselves to be an “Internet Marketing Firm” or qualified SEO.
Most of the local businesses I present to have disclosed to me what they consider to be a bad experience with so called SEO’s including those bigger IYP’s and other local service providers that “bundle” SEO as part of their respective offerings. In order to succeed in this space, you must be able prove performance by providing case studies. Where were your clients before your services, where are your clients now? You need to differentiate yourself and your services, clearly define reasonable expectations, deliver performance and perceived value. You need to prove performance from reliable data and a well thought out performance matrix tailored for the client. Truthfully, I haven’t seen much it in the “SEO” space.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 23:42:29 +0000

I think Jill Whalen is absolutely right that shoddy work and articles that exist just to provide links will persist until Google stops rewarding them. Unfortunately, the fact that these tactics work (to some extent) will also probably continue to tarnish associations with SEO. Good work makes a difference, but not so much that you have to be good to be in SEO or style yourself an expert.

I’m too new to the SEO world to see a lot of the in-fighting, but I do see a lot of really confusing and contradictory advice being bandied about!

By: Jen Lopez

Jen Lopez — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 20:35:36 +0000

This is a topic that comes up regularly around the office, in meetings, over emails, etc. In fact this post (and the one from Matt) actually triggered a series of emails around the discussion which hopefully will make it to blog form in the near future. :) Thanks for continuing the discussion, now let’s just hope we can figure out or at least work towards a solution.

By: Kim Krause Berg

Kim Krause Berg — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 18:26:12 +0000

@Ogletree

I find myself agreeing with your comments. I, too, am shocked when I discover a new SEO client has never heard of Danny Sullivan. I, too, have had referrals who find their way to me after being burned by some well known “experts”. However, in those cases, it’s boiled down to the client not accepting what needs to be done for the good of their site or they balk at the fee or they had expectations that were impossible to meet. When people don’t get what they want, they bitch about it. I’m learning to take it all with a grain of salt or before I accept something as real truth, I investigate their claim.

By: David Ogletree

David Ogletree — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:52:05 +0000

I believe that some of the respected members of our industry are causing problems as well. I have had sales calls where the prospect said some pretty bad stuff about some names we all know and respect. It is not just the black hat spammers it is also some of the white hat people. When I go to conferences I hear all kinds of stories about how certain respected people have done some pretty bad things. There seems to be a culture of not outing respected names. I have seen some stuff that made me very angry but I was told to keep my mouth shut because this person is beloved in the industry and it would ruin me to out them. I get my business from networking in the industry and I can’t afford that.

The black hat and sleazy local SEO firms out there could care less about their reputation because they rely on cold calling, ppc, and other methods and could care less what the SEO industry thinks of them.

By: Jim Rudnick

Jim Rudnick — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 16:56:39 +0000

Lisa…spot-on, girl!

Many many of the above comments reflect my own thoughts on same, but I can tell you that up here in Canuckland, things while similar are fairly different. Oh sure, we still have the black/white hat issue, the off-shore spammers who send out millions of emails (to us too!) offering to SEO your firm to the top for peanuts but more than that as we have so very very few firms here that “do” SEO, mostly it’s a wide open field.

Those of us who have had an SEO practice for years, realized long ago that the education of the marketplace works best…and hence the few of us here in my own city regularily speak at Chamber functions, service clubs, user groups, networking clubs…you name it and we’ve all done it. And, it seems to work too…as the phone always rings right after such a presentation and our stats on downloads for SEO whitepapers or guides always brings leads…

Sadly tho, I can also offer that the SEO “posers” have increased their spams lately in the past say 4 months and yes, I’m sure that many local/regional firms have fallen prey to them too….

I await more comments here tho…especially from SugarRae — and just wanted to add — “thanks” !

:-)

Jim