[artabon]

Someone in this thread likened SEO to Feng Shui (albeit lovingly) ... no hard feelings eduardo, but for anyone else reading that thread, they could come to the grossly false notion that SEO is just another psuedo-science. So the following is my weak attempt at writing an apologist's defense of SEO:

SEO as Feng Shui? Probably for some people - some of them even call us snakeoil salesmen (and women). True, SEO isn't exactly an exact science. Don't be fooled though, none of the sciences started out as exact.

SEO is more about keeping on top of the game. What game or games do I mean?

The social game: How do you get people on your site and make them stay? How do you entice them to link? So you need your social skills intact, with a dash of psychology and streetsmart.

The tech race: How do the search engine bots and the core engines themselves work/change and how do you keep in their good graces (or in the case of blackhats - how do you game them)? Your problem is a query into this one - how do you make sure that your site is indexable? So you need to keep on your toes - able to adapt at a moments notice. You will also need a passion for learning and a head for coding. You will also need the power of analysis and observation to have a general idea of what is happening.

The financial and marketing crunch: How do you make money off a site? How do you make more?

May nalimutan pa ba ko?

@artabon an excellent post.
I like the 3 parts you mention
1) how do you get ranked (also what get u ranked today may not work tommorrow)
2) what do you do with the traffic, so u do not lose the user
3) have do u monetize the traffic
Those 3 things are legs on a stool, if u are missing any one of them ur stool falls over
If u missing all 3 u in big trouble

SEO gets the reputation as a psuedo-science because 90% of so called SEO experts are clueless. They have no idea how the different search engines rank stuff, and all they do is make thier $$$ by selling snake oil solutions to suckers.

The biggest mistake the people make is the assumption that SE are logical.

Google (G) is like one of those huge games i used to play as a kid. I loved games like rail road tycoon, civilization, masters of orion.
But any game that you play you notice "holes" in it. If you do certain illogical things the game will react in a certain positive manner.
(Stupid moronic teachers that tell me i wasting my life away playing these games)

G is same way, but instead of getting points, you collect $$$

Nice thread. I was also thinking of creating a thread about SEO's quantitativeness.

First I would like to state that my likening of SEO tasks to Feng Shui, is based loosely on a newbies perception of both SEO and Feng Shui. I really would not want to brand feng shui as snakeoil or SEO for that matter.

The thing is, I am a developer by trade and training. I have this attitude of quantifying (or at least try to) everything I see. I even rank women by a deck of cards (3 of clubs the lowest and 2 of Diamonds the highest).

The closest part where I think SEO and FS closely resembles each other, is the way they have been treated, and the way they SHOULD be treated. Most houses apply FS when the house is in the finishing touches. This wreaks havoc on the builders and sometimes even being forced to literally transfer the main entrance. SEO, in some cases has been treated the same. Sites are made up to 80% and then an executive decision is made to make the site SEO compliant. I guess you see this point.

Another point, is that I wish both SEO and FS are applied DURING the planning phase.

SEO is closer to a science than FS, that is true. But SEO cannot accurately predict the number of clicks per day that a site will get in the same way that FS cannot predict the volume of good luck that will come in.

This is where FS and SEO departs from each other, AND where I wish SEO becomes more quantifiable. FS brings in luck, totally unquantifiable. SEO brings in clicks, views and dollars.. something I believe is VERY quantifiable. Or at least have a scoring rubric of how SEO compliant a site is. The problem that I see here is that a common measurement (for all SEs) is not available... yet.

What I wish for SEO (and I will help achieve this) is to have a numeric, quantifiable figure that I can give, when a client asks me "How is this going to affect my site?"

oh.. and here is another thing that I believe is taken for granted but proves costly...

@eduardo lorenzo
I did not state SEO is snake oil.
I stated that 90% (probably more) of so called SEO "experts" are clueless morons. And that the make thier money peddling rubbish to stupid consumer.

But SEO cannot accurately predict the number of clicks per day that a site will get in the same way that FS cannot predict the volume of good luck that will come in.

I can within 25% accuracy estimate the number of clicks that will occur.
Also if i have experience with the affiliate I use, I can even take that number of clicks and estimate the number of sales that will occur.

Traffic also varies by days of the week and time, this depends on the niche.

I ussually use 2-3 affiliate for product, that way i can tell if the affiliate is cheating me.

For the ranking aspect, you can estimate how many backlinks u need to rank for what ever term.

@nop_90
I didn't say SEO is snake oil nor the consultants as snakeoil merchants.

Coming from you, its sad to hear that majority of SEO "experts" sell nothing but rubbish. Here I think art missed one game, or a subset of the games her enumerated that we play.

The Social Game:
Aside from getting people to your site and making them stay, another SEO Consultant game that he has to play is the social game with the site owners. From what nop_90 mentioned, most SEO "experts" play this game with skill. Selling crap to a CEO or a Marketing/Advertising director takes a lot of skills. Directors-well at least in theory, don't get to become directors for being gullible. This is another game that needs to be played.

1. Establish the need
2. Establish your "expertise"
3. Lay down prophetic visions of what will happen if SEO is taken into consideration.

here again, my logical side takes over. I am a man of numbers. I need stats (although I know statistics can be manipulated) to show me cause and effect, not estimates. I take risks, calculated risks and take everything into consideration. I take estimates as parameters and still needs to quantify them and represent them in numbers.

I see the job of a TRUE SEO Expert is not a laughing matter. I am at the development side of things and just concerned on how to make the site SEO compliant on a granular level and here I see that I have yet to scratch the surface. This field is a marriage of both science and instinct.

lol @ eduardo
I never was too good at the social game you talk about