Is There a Silver Bullet To SEO or Is It all BS

I've been reading about private blogs and other "restricted" boards that talk about the "tricks and secrets of SEO. These posting imply that the few good ones (nameless of course) know it all, and cannot share the secrets of SEO because it would be an invitation for everyone to copy and, as a result, an invitation for Google, Yahoo and company to change their logarithm and the end (or the beginning) of SEO?

I've wondered for some time if this was all true and how one could get invited in one of these secret societies. As recently as last week I saw yet another slew of writing on people who called themselves "SE spammers" and indicate that SEO has no secrets for them.

But know I wonder if this all true. I wonder if theses so call spammer are real... Can they really get top ranking for a given site on Google, Yahoo, MSN at the same time? Additionally, can they get top ranking within areas of these sites were keywords are in high demand like stock photography, seo, etc. And to complicate everything, how can they fool the people at Google, Overture, Yahoo, MSN and company who charge advertisers 1, 2 or 3.00 per click simply to be on a side bar? Would Google and the other pay extra attention in category with high demand and check the top 20 sites that are found by so called "natural search" (this later one being a topic of its own. I frankly doubt it!

But hey they’re maybe these people out there laughing at my innocence! On the other hand I wonder if anyone knows enough to answer my quest? Better yet prove me wrong and tell the whole world about the secret of SEO... After all it is only a question of time before Google throws everyone into another panic as they did with the so-called "Florida update".

Adios!

JT

Maybe the holders of the said secrets are the fools if all they care about is fooling folks! There is no need to fool anyone and there are many that do not that hold their own... come what may.

The secret of SEO... there isn't one if "After all it is only a question of time ..."

It's always better to be transparent in the long run than to be tricky in the short term.

There are many things you can do that can assist your pages, and many things that can count against you.

A public forum such as this sees many of those topics discussed, opinions aired, and advice given.

It is up to you to judge whether the advice is sound, and for you alone to experiment and see what works, for you.


There is no "one" big thing to do that guarantees success; it is a combination of many small factors - while staying away from tactics that openly advertse you as a spammer.

I can recommend reading as many threads as possible going back at least 3 months in the sub-forums of interest and trying to soak up as much knowledge as possible - most posts in this forum come from users' own personal experiences, rather than being some theoretical text book version of how one person thinks they might look in real life.

Thanks for the answers to my posting.

I'm glad to see that others feel the same way about SEO and that, indeed, there is (or may not be) no Silver Bullet...

It's been my experience that good SEO includes some basic steps as well as many many small things (some of them changing) that one can do to enhance the results. The rest frankly depends on how competitive the category and/or keywords are.

It also involves time and patience, something that many on the Net don't seem to have.

However, I am still waiting to be proven wrong and to read from one those "prince of the SEO"... Who knows SEO and the world maybe much more complex than it already is?

JT

SEO is easy enough, I think.

1. Build a web site that deserves to be number one.

2. Avoid hiding said web site behind a wall of technology today's SE can't breach.

3. Link it appropriately to and from other websites.

My usual advice is to:
write useful content that real people would want to read.
Use heading tags only for headings, and do it well.
Craft a good title and meta description.
Get some good links from related on-topic sites.
Use CSS, and get all CSS and JS out into external files.
Validate your code, fix any errors found.

Yea..

Naming, designing, coding, content, Meta, Headings, linkage, submission, addition, updating, maintaining, expanding....

It's all that I've done so far... But Darn... I wish there was a secret to making it all happen overnight... Just kidding.

JT

As a non-SEO type with a [very] basic knowledge of the subject, it always amazes me that so many consider SEO a shady or sneaky thing.

To have a worthwhile site appear well on searches for what it is about is, after all, what the search engines, searchers and site owners all want.

It is only the few that are SPAMMERs and abusers that give a bad impression about SEO.

If we are talking about something like This Thread at threadwatch then what I think is:

There are no secrets to long term good positioning.
There are temporary loop holes in every search engine algo that can be exploited.

Hi jtouboul,

You ask the $64,000 question.

I answer it this way: By a simple analogy I use when seeing questions about "Secrets & Tricks"

When I was playing horses, and trying to find the "secrets"

Many had their systems and would sell them from $20 and up.

The Biggest question I asked myself & you will see how this all relates to each other:

If Anyone had a KEY to the mint, would they sell it to possibly hundreds if not thousands of people for a hefty price, or would they keep it to them self.

The toughest part of the question relates to how much having
all the "Secret" means to your ego.

Theoretically I believe, Those that have that much power, would chose to keep it to them self.

Of course, it depends on the particular person.

I commend you for a great and controversial question.


Dave

Hi,

You said the "Magic Words"

Build site with Valuable Content.

Without a doubt, that is one of the Most Important
and least understood methods to gain Google acceptance
and make your way to the rare top listings.

Most people are looking for secrets, when it is right infront of their face.

Google tells you poiny blank:
To get higher page rankings and become one of the
top sites, you Must have valuable content.

I am far from a SEO expert, but I read alot, and talk
to different experts.

It is amazing how many sites are everything but the
content needed for higher rankings.

Dave