I'm curious if anyone caught Jason Calcanis's conversation at SES? Particularly where he said "SEO is bullshit, if you generate a web page with good content Google will rank the page properly." Anyone have any opinions on this statement? Is this guy full of it, or is SEO really just bullshit?
I think its a little bit of both. Obviously you can't have a website with no incoming links, a link farm at the bottom and outstanding content at the top to do well in Google.
That's how it should work but it's naive to think that's how it does work...but hey, keynote speakers have to spout such bullshit or no-one will listen!
I agree with him. Good content is the key, and it has always been the key. My bro even says it is the key, when he sent me an email, and i know he is normally politically correct. Rob
Ok, but no one is denying "good content", its the SEO part... You can still SEO good content. I don't find that to be bullshit...
I agree good unique content is a must, but i don't think its a case of get a .com and upload the content. You need to start getting links atleast, the rest will follow. From what he's saying basically it wouldn't happen - no links = no spiders
SE submission is probably one of the most crucial and important parts of SEO IMO. I do it for every site I maintain and manage. For some sites I do it manually. It is the best and most almost immediate way to get a site spidered and indexed.
google bot = computer, therefore it cant tell if your content is good. therefore seo = not BS yes content is king etc etc... but google is a machine, and it looks for certain things that it feels equate to good content, if you put more of these things, then it will find you more easily
Me = human, therefore i can tell if its good but not if its unique. Google has many machines with possibly every website in the world, but remember content is only the king if its unique and i think Google can tell if its unique or not
You do need some SEO regardless. Content is the best way to get good ranking over the long term but even a site with Good content stands no chance without links. I actually posted on Matt Cutts blog and that is exactly what he said about one of my client's site that did not get indexed. Everything else was done right but not one link due to the client. The site is nowhere on Google. But SEO is a lot of bullshit also. Too many people that claim too many things that are often not true. These are the things I think count: 1. Great content 2. Clean code with spiderable menu. 3. Incoming links. The best way to get spidered is to put a link on this forum. Better than submitting to any engines from what I've seen.
The unfortunate truth is that SEO is not BS. As Mia stated, good content is part of SEO, but not enough. Of course, it depends on what type of site you are talking about and what your traffic expectations are. If there's lots of competition online in your industry (for your keywords), then you'll only get to the top of SERs with a well implemented SEO plan. There don't seem to be many sites that place well that haven't at least taken some basic SEO steps to make their content SE friendly. -bmack
No, of course not. Hire people to do with SEO with satisfying background. THey will at least have a good looking website, and offer a free tial. At least look for these 2 things.
true, it has to be unique, but i mean if your site is about Monkeys then you can write: This site has everything you could ever want to know about monkeys. or you can write: Monkeys are interesting and we have all the monkey information you need, if you want to learn about monkeys then we are your monkey headquarters as we have collected all the monkey information available about monkeys. both are unique and both say the same thing pretty much, the second is just annoying as hell, but to google for the keyword monkey it will rank higher, since it uses the keyword so much. I am not saying you can just throw in random info and call it SEO, it has to be relevant. But it does make a difference how it is written. SEO is one part of the equation, my no means the only.
SEO isn't bullshit. Give two people the same exact site to start. Guy #1 with no knowledge of SEO and Guy #2 who is an expert. Both of them have a $100 budget. Guy #2 will rank better in the search engines. Google is smart enough that little differences won't make a difference(you know stupid stuff like meta tags or keyword stuffing), but when it comes to the hardcore SEO, it makes a difference.
SEO works period. Its the knowledge of how search engines work and how to change your ranking in them. Here is an example: I have a website that hasn't ranked in google in the top 100 for any major phrase other then its name for 5 years. Now I'm on the team, I just started to learn SEO, and i changed the headers and title tags, now it ranks top 60 for 2 of the most competitive terms within 2 weeks.