Tons of sites – really, lots of sites – claim to be able to give you the Secrets of SEO (add a whole bunch of exclamation points here). Just download this eBook (giving away your name and email), buy this special report (giving away name, email and cash) or order this course (same, same), and you, too, can know what the experts know.
The secrets… those almighty tips, tricks and techniques to get YOUR site ranking above all the rest NO MATTER how much competition you have. Here’s the number one SEO secret:
This stuff is crap. It’s so much crap it stinks higher than a garbage dump. Even flies are scared.
The Truth
Every SEO who can call themselves one and be truthful (key word here) about it has a few things they cling to, and these things aren’t always the same… but secrets? Come on, people. This is the Information Age.
I mean, “secret” implies something most people don’t know. Secrets are kept under wraps, right? So how is it that all of a sudden all these people seem to have a slew of SEO secrets to share with you? How many secrets can there really be? Yet, you see:
- SEO Secrets – top Secrets a SEO company will not want you to know
- SEO Secrets – all you need to know to reach the top of the search engines
- SEO Secrets Revealed!
Notice a trend yet?
Look… I don’t want to just break this barrier down. No. I want to stomp on it, crush it until it’s so much goo under my boot heel. There’s nothing in these eBooks, reports and courses you can’t already find – free, I might add – on the Internet.
In fact, some of this SEO secret crap you pay for will give you opposing views, if not be completely full of disinformation. Mostly, what these people have done is gather public domain information (online, free use), stuff it into an eBook or report, and slap a price sticker on it.
A side note on SEO courses and certifications…
You can spend the money on an SEO course and you might learn a few things, but, for heaven’s sakes, don’t pay the money just to be certified. As of yet, there’s still no governing body for search engine optimization. As of yet, there’s no such thing as real certification. Claiming you have an SEO certification on a job interview will most likely get your resume dropped into the trash pile. No joke.
You can’t go to college for SEO. You can go to college for things useful to SEO, such as Information Retrieval, Data Structures and Algorithms, and Natural Language Processing. However, you can’t go to an accredited college and get a Bachelor’s degree in SEO. Ain’t happenin’.
Where to Go for REAL SEO Secrets
When you want to learn about SEO, don’t waste your money. If you’re going to throw cash, pay attention to where you’re throwing it. Here’s a list of places to go if you want to learn search engine optimization:
- SEO Chat – Articles, forum, tons of great info
- free
- SEOMoz – Articles, SEOMoz toolset, Webinars, SEO community, marketing information
- $99 per month, plus SEO tools
Free Article Resources
- Search News Central
- Search Engine People
- Search Engine Journal
- Search Engine Land
Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
So, the next time you see a site offering the “Secrets of SEO”, pause before you click. Get your skepticism in order before you look at the page. If they say, “for only $20.99” or “guaranteed to get you to the #1 spot” or anything like that, click away. It’s crap.
Better yet, look no more. Come back here, go to the sites above, read and follow links to find other resources. Build your own set of resources for real SEO information. Recognize the crap for what it is.
5 Responses
Its very very hard to define a “secret”, as that to me implies that there are answers when it fact the web is moving, changing and flowing all the time, so what worked a few years back, “meta keyword stuffing” for example, is now totally ignored by SE’s so how anyone can offer “secrets” is beyond me.
Website: Skip Hire
Thank you for taking the time to comment, Scott. You’ve hit the nail on the head. We (Level343, that is) write informational articles, but at the same time, feel it’s important to dispel the myths – like the myth that SEO techniques are secret. Given the time to read, learn and implement, anyone can do SEO. The problem for many business owners is having the time to do these things – which is where SEO companies like us come in, of course. 😉
Thanks again!
Nicely done. I believe the main reason sites use Seo Secrets over and over again is because it grabs attention. If you’re a beginner and want to learn everything SEO, it is easy to see something that says “The Secrets To SEO” and get excited and want to give out your email, name, cash, or whatever else.
However, the people that have been actively doing SEO for a good amount of time no better than this. You’re right, there is no secret to doing good SEO.
The real secret is finding a system that you can implement day in and day out on a consistent basis to achieve the rankings you desire. More people should read this article before they get tricked into buying these fake SEO secrets. Also, thanks a lot for the links to the SEO sites.
If “secrets” really existed, people would be using them to monetize websites instead of selling ebooks. I still say that the best SEO “secret” is a good foundation of web design, on-page optimization, link building, and copywriting. All of the best SEO advice I’ve ever received required that base knowledge.
Ciao Scott – yeah, I know “secrets” is a dirty word now. To be quite honest, though, sometimes one has to use dirty words to get attention. Like it states in the article “This stuff is crap. It’s so much crap it stinks higher than a garbage dump. Even flies are scared.” Working with us, our clients find out we don’t have any secrets.. and neither do they. The first thing we require before we even sit down to discuss cost, strategy or anything else, is a discovery. That in itself is an excellent tool to start a campaign with.