It’s interesting to me to still see two strong camps in the field of Search Engine Optimization (SEO). You have those who are legitimately out to optimize their sites for search engine interaction and you have those who are still working diligently trying to trick the system.
You would be very successful doing SEO the right way if you just put in the same effort, time, and tenacity it takes to cheat. So why don’t people want to do follow best practices? Why don’t they want to develop quality, easy to navigate, and value adding content? I can see three big reasons; ignorance, stubbornness, and greed.
1) Ignorance
Some people, both individuals and advisors may not know that the field of SEO has developed since 1995. They’ve either been too busy working or are just getting into the fray now and have very little to go on. If that’s the case then I introduce you to Google’s free SEO starter guide.
2) Stubbornness
Stubbornness is a matter of knowing that either what you are doing is indeed morally wrong or at least knowing that there is a better way and you are resisting change. Some web administrators may say they don’t have time to learn about insignificant trifles such as “best practices”. Likewise some advisors may think that what they are doing has been getting their clients results for years so why should they change. To the stubborn, I say that there is a better way that produces better results, and ends with a clearer conscience.
3) Greed
Unfortunately there are still some consultants out there who realize that the new best practices are easy to understand and follow. So they intentionally use technical language to disguise their black hat SEO approach to their clients who don’t have the expertise to figure out what’s going on. These people are using frowned upon techniques as their unique sales proposition to target a niche market that doesn’t know any better. To the greedy, I say there is just as much money to be made using legitimate SEO practices, not to mention the clearer conscience.
Providing Value
Best SEO practices aren’t rocket science, but it does take some time and skill to do well. Don’t get caught in or stay in the sickly trap that is black hat SEO. The whole idea behind how search engines frame best practices is to help people find the valuable things that they are looking for.
Do you have something valuable to offer? Then doing SEO right is in your best interest.
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