Search engine optimization received no love from the credit card issuer's small business guide, which published some oddly contradictory advice about being found in places like Google or Yahoo.
American Express promotes a small business program called OPEN as part of its Business Gold Rewards Card program. The company also sponsors small business Meetups in several cities.
As Search Engine Watch noted, American Express published views on search engine optimization. The opinion in question comes from a PDF called OPEN Book, which AmEx calls "A practical guide for business growth," available for download from that Meetups page.
Here is the paragraph from the guide that's like to ruffle some feathers in the SEO community (spacing added):
Search engines, like Yahoo! and Google, are usually the first place people will look for you. Make it easier for them to find you. Yahoo! and Google offer tools to let them know the site map structure of your Web site.
Also, using clean U.R.L.’s like yourdomain.com/store/widgets instead of yourdomain.com/store.php?id=42&categoryID= widgets will increase your chances of getting indexed in a search engine.
Finally, don’t waste money on so-called Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) specialists. Search engines are very quick to penalize sites that try to trick their filtering techniques, and once your site has been put on Google’s blacklist, it will take forever to get off.
The advice appears as part of a broader story on building a web presence credited to design group Cuban Council. This is the San Francisco firm that developed the Facebook logo.
Another document also hosted on the OPEN Meetups page promotes the idea of search engine marketing. This document advocates SEO and gives advice on what to do (Use the right keywords. Beware of "Black Hat" optimizers and their tricks) and provides a brief primer on SEM.
Our advice for small business owners: be wary of companies that promote two different ideas to their customers and don't seem to know they are doing so.
Score One for Apple!Organic SEO vs. PPC?Google's Favoritism Makes Knoll SEO MagnetBringing SEM In House - 10 Great ResourcesGoogle Forms Health Advisory CouncilComment Spam, Long Copy Referrer Pages & SEO ToolsAmerican Express Spins Off AEFA UnitIf SEO is Rocket Science, I'm a PretzelCEO Says SEO A Waste Of TimeAmerican Express Breaks Record
Comments
SEO
In my opinion, SEO is dead! You need to optimize your site for the visitors: it's called VEO or Visitor Experience Optimization. The idea is to build a website your visitors will absolutely love. Provide useful information and provide links to other sites related to yours. If you build a quality site other webmasters will link to it to enrich their own visitors' experience and your site's popularity will rise.
SEOs are not a waste
its not a waste, they are just mad that they are getting owned by SEOs
SEO - Results
The only thing about SEO that matters are the results.
What's interesting is the number of companies stating that they are the SEO "Experts." It is far easier to tell people you are an expert, than to actually deliver any meaningful results. Anyone can put up a web-site claiming to help your site gain more audience. After 6 months if nothing happens they can say, "Well.... Google changed their algorithm on us. Let's try for another 3 months and see what happens."
AMEX may have been alluding to this fact, though the way they said it could lead one to believe that all SEO is a waste of resources.
SEO of course does have a place as long as it does what it is supposed to do. The tough part is determing which company will actually make good on their promises.
http://www.mbridge.com
Someone sounds like they were banned before...
Apparently, some BlackHat seo convinced one of the big bosses at their headquarters to spend thousands of dollars on search engine "tricks and gimmicks", and probably got their site pimp slapped by Google's PHD developers' algorithm.
It sounds like it is an angry cry for help, in which case, what they really mean is: "Can someone please show us the right way to rank our sites without ripping us off, and having our sites banned and competitors snagging most of our potential profit."
To me, SEO is a way for the search engines to find your sites and filter through all of the crap that the search engine tricksters flood Google and other search engines with. You can be blinded by the truth and think that, "Hey, if we build it and follow rules, they'll come." Soon after, you'll have a rude awakening.
I understand their view about watching out for people looking to charge you money only to get your site banned, but the truth is, if you are into quality SEO it likely won't happen in the first place.
there are always...
good and bad, honest and scammers in every industry out there. Is like calling all the casino and adult webmaster spammers, just because these industries are generally associated with spam and black hat techinques.
Bollocks
What a load of bollocks.
Anyhow that statement Amex made is really uncalled for. It's more of an opinion than a fact. Opinions published in that fashion is a really daft move. What Amex said will surely draw wary attention of prospective clients for SEO's but there will be a heavier weight of the SEO community who will draw negative comments toward Amex.
Amex really shouldnt forget that dishing uncalled for or unsubstantiated comments like that can damage their online reputation - Especially when youre dealing with SEO's ; ) .
Oh well, it really seems to me the person who wrote the article has had a bad experience and developed a hatred toward SEO services.
Sorry form him
Sorry form him for he doesn't know the difference between SEO and SEO spam.
he sure doesnt people like
he sure doesnt people like that give us a bad name
Sounds Like They Had A Bad Experience
It seems odd that they would make a statment like that. It sounds like they had a bad experience with an SEO company or someone feed them a bunch of false information. They were quick to add in that black propaganda which is not really about SEO specialists to begin with ("Search engines are very quick to penalize sites..."). Besides AmEx is not an authority on the Internet or search engines.
-Sean
wow
That’s crazy because there was just an article on SEO moz that said that SEO is one of the only thriving businesses while in this recession.
SEO is deffinately not a
SEO is deffinately not a waste. It could be the difference in 50 views a day & 1000 views a day.
AMEX doublespeak
document also hosted on the OPEN Meetups page promotes the idea of search engine marketing
link please
Unethical SEOs
Although I disagree with AMEX stating that SEO isn't valuable, from personal experience I would guess that 80-90% of the SEO companies are useless or only good for a quick boost in traffic (yes, with danger of being blacklisted).
Working as a "web administrator" for a large company I had several of these companies contact me and make outrageous claims. I truly felt that I had better experiences with used car salesmen.
Yes, SEO is valuable and there are companies that do it well, but it probably is more useful for companies to focus on good content delivery before dumping 10s of thousands of dollars into the SEO bucket.
Completely Agree
Over the last year I have been getting on an average 3 calls a dayfrom SEO Cos. That is hundreds of them. Not quick to sign up. All wanted money first and results later with a guarantee. Did not sign up with any one and finally decided to do it on ly own (I am strickly not techie) but found a lot of information about seo, wrote a plan to avoid pitfalls and black hat trick.In two months now have same traffic without PPC and very high close ratio 80+% as opposed to 3%.0 Google ppc cost and lot less busy work by taking in sales to pay Google. All in all, for a small e commerce business, Google PPC is feeding tube that should be removed as soon as possible.
Proud of it
Transparency is the thing for me
Given the complexity potential attached to SEO, we need more transparency in service processes, and a straightforward accounting of what SEO professionals really know about SE algorithms, what they have come to understand on their own, what they have tried and proved, and what they think might work, etc..
Yet Another...
Yet another self-appointed expert/corporate busybody - probably a whole committee of corporate busybodies - doesn't know the difference between SEO and SEO spam.
Definitely a committee. The stupidity of one person wouldn't have sufficed.
(The snipping noise you hear involves a scissors and my American Express card.)
Sam
Top 5 Ways AMEX is Losing Money on SEO
This inspired me to do a review of their site and list the top 5 worst SEO mistakes that they are making in my blog at www.catfish.cc.
AMEX, Chargebacks and cutting into their profits
I too am an SEO specialist and am going to be certified by Yahoo and Google as such. I always tell my clients "don't take my word for it" and provide them will screen shots of their websites with page 1 and 2 rankings for their particular keywords and key phrases. Pay per click has its use but its usually the haves vs. the have nots; so that natural search positioning is not only useful be levels the playing field. Perhaps I will optimize for "American Express", "AMEX" and "credit card fraud" and achieve page 1 rankings for that without using any black hat techniques. I wonder what AMEX's clients will feel when "AMEX credit card fraud" is attached to their name on page 1 of this returned search result.
American Express and SEO
I think they are against SEO because many SEO companies just do not want to take American Express cards for payments because Amex charges to much in fees. Behind closed doors they realize how important it is, how affordable it really can be and how it can help a web site profit and do better, and hense, they are losing residual income from SEO companies not taking the American Express Card. But they pickd on the wrong industry...do they not understand that their little comments just geared us up for a wonderful social networking link exchange attached to their wonderful name:-) Whoo Hoo Amex!
Bonnie
True SEO
This is a very interesting article and I believe the skewed views comes from people still having the wrong idea of what SEO truly is and what "successful" SEO should accomplish.
I am the SEM manager here at my company and recently I've stressed to our business owners that true SEO is not all about getting 1st position in SERPs or even getting traffic. True SEO will can get you that 1st, 2nd position but to me successful SEO will get you "quality" traffic and conversions.
SEO=relevant content, which in turn =qualty traffic + conversions. This is why SEO is important. Internet users that find your content irrelevant or lacking will leave and never return. When internet users search Google, do they not read the blue (with bolded keywords) titles, the descriptions? Aren't title tags and descriptions part of SEO? Yes.
SEO is about making you content (title, description, text on pages) highly relevant. That is the start of truly successful SEO. From there, a link building campaign can start but thats a whole other topic.
AMEX's Statement on SEO
I am an SEO specialist for one of the most reputable legal research companies in the world. I'm not saying this to toot my horn, but to make a point.
One of the many services we offer is SEO for our clients. We use only the best practices of the SEM/SEO industry, and don't engage in "black hat" techniques.
However, in the minds of some, SEO equals illegal or at best unethical "tricks" to try to get search engine rankings. I think what AMEX s is referring to. AMEX, like most uninformed companies commenting on SEO, has really no clue what true SEO work entails.
Unfortunately, the public will see this as an affront against an emerging industry that is, in the best traditions, quite scientific in nature. It's unfortunate and upsetting to me, as an SEO consultant, to hear such damaging and potentially libelous statements about one of the most service-oriented and necessary industries to come along in a long time.
...and we won't even talk about how AMEX and other credit card companies practice a modern form of usury - a practice, which by the way, is illegal unethical, ruinous; and, according to American religious and cultural tradition, immoral.
Looks to me like the proverbial pot is calling the kettle black?
Eric Bryant, CEO
Gnosis Arts Multimedia COmmunications
seo a waste
That is the most conservatief statement ever regarding SEO.
But because hounest seo will not garantuee specific search engine results, a lot of people think it's just a matter of believing and not science.
Not a big deal
I think WebProNews and most people here are getting it wrong. It was a pretty innocuous statement that was made by Amex - and I think that what they were really referring to was the difference between using "black hat" SEO tactis - which we all know exist - and just good standard practices (clean directory architecture, descriptive file names, etc.), which a lot of people describe as SEO (I would just call it common sense).
Yeah, it's easy to say SEO
Yeah, it's easy to say SEO is a waste when you're already a massive credit card firm. There's a point where if your product or website is unique/successful enough, the role of SEO will diminish (maddox is a prime example).
For smaller businesses and website developers SEO is necessary to compete, or they'll get crushed by other established companies, brands and pages.
AMEX Cold Liers
Running a professional marketing, design and SEO company would of course mean my back at this time represents a spiny ant eater. Is it their PPC market they are tying to keep in favor of? Or is it the writter was just a moron!
A tiny extract from our PPC versus SEO article.
It is a question so easily answered with mathematics, these days the minimum industry spend on the average keyword phrase to rank in first page of sponsored listings is $2.50 per click. With 100 visitors per day that is $250 per day in spend. Look at a tougher market such as search optimisation or website design and to be competitive you are looking at over $5 a click, some clients are paying $7 $9 and up to $14 per click depending on their industry, that is a whopping $511,000 a year based on 100 people a day clicking the ad.
ROI, return on our investment, every time someone clicks on your ad there goes coin simple as that. People are lazy and will just click the ad the get to your website without even contemplating it is costing you money. My fiancée clicks ads just to see what they are selling. I know business people that go out of their way to click on competitors ads just to cost Jack extra cash. Then we have click fraud an ever increasing problem that is reported by some reports to be as high as 30%.
Organic clicks cost you nothing, once you are ranking for your keyword phrases it is free marketing, who cares if someone is just browsing, looking for advice or is just having a sticky beak. It matter not, it is not costing you a single cent. Now I ask yet again is SEO worth the capital outlay?
Enough said I think!
Legitimate SEO is the king
It is money out the door. Extremely unqualified leads, Bounce rate on my e commerce site when PPC was use was in excess of 70%. Our spend was more then the amount in earlier posts. We killed it cold 3 months ago. My tracffic is down about 15%, My bouce rate is now 18%. I closed only 3% of the visitors with PPC, The rest were, competitors, click frauds and tire kickers. My close ratio now is 60%+ even at 80% on some of my sites. I has cost us nothing besides a lot of research, hard work and patience. As they say there no short cut in life and SEO is not an exception.
I applaud all the SEO firms that do good work and are legtimate. I belive they provide a great service. However, coming from a site/business owner standpoint, SEO industry has to do it's part to weed out bad apples from their community. Business owners like us are extremely hesitant to do businees with companies that will have 80% chance of cheating them out of their SEO dollars.
End
Marketing Practices
AMEX seems a little underhanded, attacking SEO and welling up the tactics of blackhats to make themselves look like the saints. I'm fairly green when it comes to SEO, but i've never seen any 'tricks', 'hacks', or overall 'black' techniques, just clean and effective content and structure. I know there are a few individuals who use shady practices, but don't use them to speak for the masses.
SEO A Waste?
These comments from Amex were obviously written by someone who has a superficial understanding of SEO and probably of the Internet in general, and so should be taken as such. I don't pretend to be an expert on credit or credit cards, and I would certainly hesitate to give anyone else advice in that area; so perhaps Amex should just stick to what it knows best.
Like most SEO professionals, we have a base of very satisfied customers who know better, and who have seen the fruits of our labors with their own eyes.
Moreover, for the true SEO professional, repeat business and referrals from existing customers will carry far more weight than any unsolicited, ill-conceived, and lame-brained, one or two sentence, "advisory" in some obsure .pdf that most of their customers probably don't even bother to read anyhow.
Of course, there are unscrupulous people out there who are doing SEO while promising more than they could ever deliver and delivering little or nothing. Those are probably the people Amex had in mind. Perhaps what Amex should have done is what we do on our website; provide guidelines for distinguishing the true SEO professional from the self-appointed, un-trained, and inexperienced hack who just wants to get paid while doing as little work as possible.
From what I understand, the Amex OPEN program has not been particularly successful anyhow, so personally, I don't plan on worrying about it.
AMEX Card - Frankly I Don't See The Value
Great post. Thanks Dave,
Frankly, I don't see the value in having an American Express Card. LOL.
If people are stupid enough to take advice from a credit card company about SEO then they'll get what they deserve - websites that are on page 3, 4, 5, 6 of the SERPS.
I have a list of top ranked clients and I'm sure it's very unlikely they'd say there SEO efforts were a waste of money or their investment with me did not provide an excellent return-on-investment.
yet another
clueless and contradictory corporate view. Its that kind of ignorance that really gives SEO a bad name. Uninformed people making accusations about entire industres, ridiculous.
I think AMEX is a waste.
I think AMEX is a waste. I've had an AMEX card, hated it. Closed the account, want nothing to do with them ever again. Why don't they save a few trees and stop sending me their credit apps? I feed them to my shredder along with Discover. Actually I'd like to feed their mailing list to my shredder. I need a good laugh. Why don't they do a web search and see how many people don't want to do business with them ? Oh yeah they think SEO is a waste of time they wouldn't be able to find Google with that attitude.
SEO Services Are A Waste of $$$?
I've read the various posts and would like to share my experience as a small business owner who worked with a SEO firm for almost a full year.
I , like others did my due diligence by researching the firm and checking references with other business owners before signing up. I spent thousands of dollars for:
There may be reputable SEO firms out there, but given my experience, I'll never take the chance to find out because I was burned so badly the first time.
Avoid getting burned by doing it yourself.
I am sorry you got burned so badly but I would suggest reading about SEO and doing it yourself. I am a self taught SEO specialist and can really see a benefit in SEO without having to spend vast amounts of money. Read, Read and read is the best way of keeping up to date and creating great SEO for your site.
OPEN supported Meetups
I organize one of those Meetup groups that OPEN sponsors. They have made hard copy booklets of the same info available to my group although, I have personally only read sections of it, not the entire booklet. A number of the other Meetup organizers they support are in the business of SEO/SEM.
The booklet was designed for use by business owners, not computer geeks like the people reading reading this article and threaded comments. If THAT public finds value within the pages, it has fulfilled its purpose. Anyone in business has to make decisions and, the average person in business won't be building their own web site.
If the person hired to build that web site knows what they're doing, that business person won't be lead astray. And, I for one, wouldn't trust many of the commenters on this board to do a thing for me! Some have made reasoned comments but, the ranting is just plain... well, you have exposed yourself as not worthy of the title of professional.
And they don't even own
And they don't even own amex.com!
SEO - a smart way to go
The comment or notion that SEO is a waste is just a downright foolish statement.
Although we haven't paid for SEO or SEM, taking the time to do it was about the best investment that our company (& my fingers) made to our website, www.parpools.com . With good SEO (praise God) we rank in the top 5 of organic searches for the bulk of keywords. That has translated to increased site visits & finally to increased revenues.
For the small business person who is operating & "webmastering" their own site, my advice to them would be to make sure you read & participate in forums & groups such as this one. There's a tremendous amount of good, FREE info that will only help.
Paid SEM is OK. Organic is GREAT!
Any new technology will always offer up the rip-off agents
Whilst I disagree with the tone of the AMEX article, I do admit that there are those who unfortunately rip-off the unsuspecting businesses through "FUD" sales techniques. If the market is confused, kept confused and constantly plagued with magical answers to your internet marketing requirements then yes there will be those who pay a lot of money for services delivered under false pretences.
Nothing new there - it is just that at the moment there is a lot of focus on SEO "experts". I realise that I can be seen as feathering my own nest here and being biased but I have been on the other side of the fence for many years before establishing myself as a SEO / SEM consultant. I recognised that there were so many rip-off agents who failed to deliver a service that paid no attention to the business' marketing strategies and developed true internet marketing plans as an integral aspect of the overall marketing strategies to be put in place.
As with any professional service, there are many good honest valued providers out there who do provide a professional service that delivers real measurable results.
It is as ever - up to the client to check the credentials and experience of the provider. If your not sure then move on to the next - there are enough to choose from. Here in Australia we are very much in our infancy in this line of business but already we are seeing the traits of the US starting to show.
I have to be somewhat cynical about AMEX as they do have a vested interest in promoting PPC after all.
Adwords is Hear....Did You Get Your Customer??
I totally agree with AMEX
All you have to do is spend a few days searching for SEO/SEM info and it becomes clear that it's all bunk. You can spend less than $50 and learn all you need to know about SEO/SEM reading 2 maybe 3 books.
What annoys me is all these SEO/SEM "pros" who game the rankings so they can push the latest overpriced "e book" -- now it's subscription boards -- and what you get for 100, 1000, 10000 dollars is nothing more than you can get for under 50.
Google doesn't help the situation. Their secrecy only helps the scammers.
When SEO/SEM "pros" and "experts" decide to behave like professionals then I will take them seriously.
Any compnay that bills it's self as an SEO/SEM company is a scam; if that is all they do. Hucksters all.
You're off your nut.
There's quite a bit to SEO. I know, because I'm an autodidact that has no money, but I have a service to promote.
So, that means I had to develop an expertise in optimization. Guess what:
There's quite a bit to it. I don't go around marketing myself as as an "SE Optimizer service monkey" , but I certainly could, because I have proven, quantitative results as a result of the five months I spent learning and implementing.
My niche is very, very competitive and quite high-profile. As a result of engaging in best practices, well, we're winning.
Try this:
Google "Film Production Jobs"
My site, ACTORSandCREW, comes up THIRD, organically, on the first page. That's ahead of mammoth sites that have existed ten times as long as we have. Direct result of my SEO work.
Guess how much traffic, ergo new customers, we realize as a result? I'm not telling, but it's a lot:
Guess how much we're paying in PPC advertising costs to aquire each of these new customers? If you guessed 'zero' you'd be right on the money.
I would suggest that your analysis of the SEO market is correct in that people do use the technique to sell books about SEO, but would also suggest that you've never dug deep enough in to best practices to realize that there is value in implementing them.
That implementation, as I'm sure you're aware, requires genuine expertise that maost people simply don't have. Yest, it takes time. Therein lies a market for services.
If you want to find a good SEO firm, take your limited knowledge from those two or three books you read, and ask hard questions.
FOR THE RECORD: Whomever wrote that article for Amex is full of it. The idea that there's no value to SEO is folderol, specious at best.
I'm living proof.
Call American Express Public Relations Dept.
Everyone needs to call American Express Public Relations Department at 212-640-2000 8am to 6 pm M-F Eastern time and complain. If we can get enough calls in to them maybe they will change the wording or even retract this.
Express Public Relations Department at 212-640-2000
American Express AMEX
American Express is a horrible credit card company. If for any reason you can’t pay the balance in full you are screwed. This statement from AMEX American Express makes me want to buy a domain and exploit everything bad about American Express. I’ll make the site rank on the first page of google, yahoo, and MSN. Does American Express issue statements about other forms of advertising as well. I’ve been working in Marketing and advertising for many years and now work for an SEO firm. My clients generate more leads and calls from SEO than any other form of advertising. I sold radio and can honestly say that millions of business have been burned on radio campaigns. I don’t see American Express issuing statements like this about radio advertising. They know that CBS Radio, Clear Channel and the other broadcaster companies will raise the ad rates on them and haul them into court for slander, the RAB Radio Advertising Bureau would sue them as well. AS SEO’s we need to get our act together and form an organization that is similar to the RAB. We need to file a class action law suite against American Express as well.
Message to all SEO’s cancel you AMEX American Express merchant account and stop taking American Express as a payment option. I’m canceling my American Express card today and calling AMEX as well. I think the SEO community needs to fight American Express. Call the American Express numbers today and cancel your account and stop taking American Express.
All SEO’s need to call this number and complain to American Express tell AMEX how we feel.
Customer Service and General Information
1-800-528-4800 / collect Int'l 1-336-393-1111
Apply to accept the Card
1-888-829-7302
Enroll in Online Merchant Services
1-800-374-2639
Accept Online Payments
1-800-528-0682
Fraud Prevention and Data Security
1-800-528-5200
Corporate Cardmembers
1-800-528-2122
Executive Corporate Card
1-800-528-2122
Corporate Platinum Cardmembers
1-800-492-3932
Emergency Card replacement
1-800-528-2122
Customer Service and General Information
1-800-528-4800 / collect Int'l 1-336-393-1111
Reply to AMEX
Using your authority position in any capacity to discredit another industry is a sign of poor business judgement. Despite their logic or reason, it is the same type of statement that could be used by SEO's to show them just how powerful our industry is. Instead of smearing themselves from allowing one writer to voice their opinions with such an endorsement, I am certain they could have found more practical and diplomatic ways to air their wares on the subject. Two thumbs down AMEX, you just helped VISA and MasterCard on that one when it comes to reputation management.
"American Express is a
"American Express is a horrible credit card company. If for any reason you can’t pay the balance in full you are screwed."
You know that when you accept the card, and you're NOT screwed if you communicate and negotiate with them. I've been a Gold Card member since 1975, use their card whenever travelling (not so much when at home), and have never had a problem with them. In fact, on several occasions I've been very glad of their help and support when in foreign countries.
Anyway, this isn't about AMEX as a credit card company, it is about their dismissal of SEOs, as providing a credible and worthwhile service.
As an SEO, you obviously have a position here, so why not argue it with logic and rationality, rather than an emotive "call to arms" and a rant?
As someone who has never used an SEO (despite having built several web sites and getting them top ranked), I tend to agree with Mark's post, but I'd be happy to see arguments to the contrary.
I believe there are definitely people who can benefit from using an SEO. Many people just don't want the hassle and don't have the tech know-how to do it themselves. AMEX should, perhaps have recognised that in their piece.
Nevertheless, there are also cowboy SEOs who are blatantly ripping people off with the supply of a dubious "service".
The good ones will be tarred with the same brush, UNLESS they show cause why they SHOULDN'T be... is that a BAD thing?
I don't think so.
Uninformed with Cutting Edge Imagination
Obviously they are just uninformed. Seo isn't about manipulating the SE's. It's about correctly building your website so that SE's can find them and index them correctly.
Wow, the facebook logo....they are so cutting edge.....How could they come up with something so incredible;)
SEO
I never really paid for S.E.O services. It doesn't seem worth it to me. If I pay someone $50 they can put my link on 100 PR 4 websites within 1 month. I can do that myself.
Basically if you have a website and work on it by building pages and links, the traffic will come.
http://www.stocks-simplified.com
Uh Did everyone forget what Amex is...?
Amex is a CREDIT CARD company... And what are credit cards used for? Funding your Adwords account, or YSM, or Adcenter accounts. Do they want you paying an SEO once, or paying Google each and every month with your amex card. I would say 90% of my clients pay for their PPC accounts using AMEX, so is it really ANY surprise that they would suggest people pay for "clicks", and not "snake oil"... Its really not that deep :)
Clearly written by a well intentioned...
but ignorant employee of Amex.
I'm shocked that they don't have a better editorial review process at such a large company.
SEO is of course plagued by some snake oil types, however the general practice and body of knowleged when put into practice can, in fact, produce significant results. Case in point:
http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/29/sanar-google-skyfacet-tech-cx_ag_0430googhell.html
They're doing a disservice to the companies that read that guide and may actually take it as an absolute truth.
- Sean
SEO is common sense marketing
There are SEO companies out their ripping people of left right and center. I studied seo for 2 years to fully understand how it works as i did not believe the web design agencies wanting tens of thousands of pounds. It is just common sense marketing similar to of page marketing. The more ACTIVITY you do the more traffic you will get. You have to have your sitge and links every where to get the traffic. Also it has to convert the traffic into results.
The more results youy get the more time and money you can invest in a website. I reckon any website neds a bis plan of a minimum of 2 years. SEO is only a waste if you give up.!!!
Absolute RUBBISH
That small exert seems really quite amateur to me and the third paragrph is absolute RUBBISH. SEO isn't about tricking the search engines!
Of all the random little tips they could have thrown in there, URL rewriting? How about web standards, semantic mark up, good use of titles and headings, ...?
A large part of SEO isn't on the page; it's in the keyword research, profiling your customer base, creating content they want, and hopefully converting them into a sale. This is not something that most web developers do and is quite a distinct skill in itself.
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