I have long railed against the notion of "Search Engine Optimization". I consider it to be nothing more than scam artistry. To try to make one's living by luring legitimate search traffic to your shady business operation is a very slimy thing to do.
Today, I had a problem getting a workstation to obtain a DHCP address via DHCP relay to a different subnet while using a Symantec Ghost boot disk. I turned to Google, with the specific terms "ghost pxe boot dhcp relay".
I found nothing immediately useful, but kept paging through the results, hoping for some buried gem. On page 9 of my search results, I saw these (which have been obfuscated and unlinked to prevent additional Google Juice going their way):
Welcome to MORTGAGEBUYER.MOC dedicated server free Pxe Boot server Welcome to CHARLIECREATIONS.MOC rackmount server what is a volume server free Pxe Boot server Welcome to DRIVINGINSTRUCTION.MOC in windows license servers on the network free Pxe Boot server free news Welcome to MUSIC-DB.MOC print server parallel netvigator smtp server free Pxe Boot server file server Welcome to TRAFFICHITTER.MOC ... email address terminal server licensing port ghost 8.2 pxe server can see ... coast virtual private server providers free Pxe Boot server proxy server ...
Who really thinks that someone looking for Ghost PXE boot information is going to click on a link to a mortgage site? Or a driving instruction site? I know I've occasionally been misled by search results to click a spammer's clever link; but the links above are in no way confusing: they're blatantly false.
I hate Search Engine Optimization, and I have zero respect for those who pursue it. They make the internet harder to use for everyone in the short-sighted pursuit of their own venal goals.
I couldn't agree more. The real slimeballs are the ones that purport to get your site ranked high, but they do so on phrases that NOBODY searches with.
I can get you ranked real high on the search "skippy politics democrat" but why bother? Nobody is searching on that.
Likewise for "mississippi web designer" The work involved in getting a site ranked for phrases like these is minimal and the price exorbitant.
Not to mention "link building networks". EXPENSIVE BUNK!
The amazing thing is that the expense of SEO is never assessed as a relation to income generated. It is just assumed that search engines will generate traffic and "surely that traffic is buying my products and services".
The public at large is utterly stupid in this regard. Otherwise intelligent people refuse to analyze SE traffic and blindly assume "it happens and thus I benefit".
Stats always tell the sad truth.
For what it's worth, Google AdWords is another money pit of worthless bunk for most regional businesses. But the average Joe business owner can't hope to understand that, as the analysis process is purposely designed to be vague and ambiguous.
In the end Google prospers and that's about the end of that.
Good post.