

SEOs Are Not Growth Hackers - allforJesse
http://www.johnfdoherty.com/seos-growth-hackers/#comment-11777

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nulluk
I feel this is a little pet issue of mine or maybe even its just due to my
limited domain experience but I have still yet to meet a single "SEO" who
doesn't feel slimy and feel like a snake oil salesman. Everyone that I have
personally encountered have been what seems in my eyes a few months behind,
non technical and willing to ultimately screw over the client with stuff that
is clearly aimed directly at manipulating google instead of improving the
overall user experience for the end customers.

I personally see and feel better taking the approach of building a technically
sound websites with good UX, getting a dedicated marketing manager who can
write good copy (and not this SEO drivel of 10 paragraphs with no substance)
and then know how to engage with customers instead.

~~~
dohertyjf
Sigh. The snake oil argument again. I thought we were done with this?
Apparently not.

Well, here's an SEO (and I can point you to probably 300 others) that don't
feel slimy. We don't do "10 paragraphs with no substance". We help companies
make their websites more usable, more targeted, and with better content so
that they deserve to rank. I wish I could show you the websites that we work
with that are actively doing SEO. Any big site is.

~~~
nulluk
The stigma is there because thats all I have experienced, now don't get me
wrong I believe there are excellent individuals out there but unfortunately I
have not clearly penetrated any of those circles of individuals. If anyone
wants to show me the networks where I need to keep my foot in the door then
thats going to be really helpful and go a long way into changing my views.

I suppose part of the problem is the low barrier to entry combined with the
fact that it's the web (which is also there playground) so you see and hear
more of the bad ones than you do good

~~~
allforJesse
It's unfortunate that there isn't, and really cannot be, an accreditation for
SEO -- the industry move too fast, and the techniques are in flux, it's just
the nature of things.

But I look at it the way the way I look at mechanics: There are a lot of great
ones out there, and a lot of slimy ones out there. The slimy ones make a bad
name for all their peers, despite the many people doing hard, important,
quality work.

There are many wonderful SEOs (and Mechanics) out there, but if you're ever in
doubt, just ask to speak to some of their clients. You'll know the good SEOs
because their clients will be ambiguous in praise, with clear definable
results they can discuss.

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will_lam
I just read this before hitting HN, but isn't the title supposed to be "SEOs
ARE Growth Hackers"? Some would argue that "SEOs are the original growth
hackers", but that's just a very short sighted view as their domain of
expertise is siloed in the domain of all things search engine related. I can
see the overlap, as some more technically inclined SEOs have already made the
jump, but there needs to be proficiency in understanding many different
platforms (not just Google) and of course the ability to actually code to
smartly exploit and scale marketing efforts. SEO is just one piece of the
puzzle.

