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SEO patience and research and proclamations of doom

By Justin Parks | September 12, 2010

I have had this on the boil for a while now and I find it resurfaces from time to time. Funny enough it coincides just when Google makes any type of change to its results, services or what have you. I’m surprised it don’t happen every time they change the logo on the damn homepage, but thank god, we haven’t quite reached that stage yet.

SEO patience and research and proclamations of doomFirst up. Patience. As soon as something happens I like to know about it. So does everyone else. In a fast moving world knowledge and speed is key, that’s fine, update me, be the first to tell me or talk about it but please, don’t try and make yourself look smart by telling me what affect it will have on me, my business, my clients, my visitors, my potential visitors and the search results and all its variations after having performed only two damn searches in under 30 seconds and drawn some half arsed conclusion.

Which brings me to my next point.

Research in new developments.

If you really want to continue destroying your own and the industries reputation then please continue to rush into things. Stop bullshitting and sprouting crap and instead try stopping and thinking what the repercussions are to your own reputation and the industry as a whole.

While you may bang the drum and do it loudly it fades quickly and leaves a decidedly bad taste in the mouth with any and all comments, insight or assertions you may make in the future. Is it really worth it?

Second to this, you have influence, in some form or fashion, over one person or one million people. The numbers are irrelevant. Your professional responsibility requires that you give the best opinion, the most educated opinion and the most researched opinion possible instead of adding to the rumour-mongering and general bullshit that floats about on these occasions. Just getting your post out first wont matter, if its good info then it will rank where it needs to regardless.

WISE UP! Have self respect for yourself, your peers and most importantly to your own readers.

It gets really annoying reading all these opinion and subjective posts when a TRAVEL BLOG, a bloody TRAVEL BLOG, takes the time to produce research called Essential Travel on Google insights to understand and assess the effect of the new feature. Shame. A travel blog doing a better assessment than 99% of the SEO industry. Says a lot that.

and finally..

The Proclamations of SEO Doom

Why is it that every new development in search has the serious overtones of the apocalypse ringing in the background? Isnt anything good for search?  is it all that bad?

“Prepare to see your visitors disappear!” …”SEO is dead now!”… “you wont be able to adapt and survive this one!”….”Doom Doom DOOM!” just rings constantly, on every occasion with any new in search. Now see the previous parts of this rant.  Surely if you had some patience, taken the time to do some research and testing, then maybe you could give a more realistic and less prophetic post with some value and level headed discussion or, more importantly results, to consider. Not some whimsical, half arsed possible fact… even the Huffington Post has copped on to this and the comments are not something to be sneered at.

I haven’t mentioned any names in this post… probably because its quite obvious who I mean and anyway, they know who they are so there is no need…and I didn’t feel like linking to them anyway cause they definitely don’t deserve it. It’s just ironic that the least amount of bullshit is on a site called SEObullshit.

Peace.

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  • SEO patience and research and proclamations of doom

Topics: Myths and Crap, Reality Check | 26 Comments »

Posted on 12 September 2010 by Justin Parks

Justin has extensive experience in the on line world having been involved in website design and creation putting businesses on line since 2001. Strategy implementation, project management, design, process, social media, seo, you name it he's done it.

has written 2 articles for SEO Bullshit

  • http://twitter.com/badams Barry Adams

    Truth. There’s more of it here: http://www.seoisnotdead.com/

  • http://www.adamtudor.com/ tudoradam

    I think a lot of it is just rocking the boat so people can get noticed, get some traffic to their site and get their name out there a bit.

    Some of it is so blatantly stupid it’s obvious it’s just linkbait.

  • http://www.4squaredmedia.com Isaac Martinez

    Indeed patience and research are necessary. Many people are just concerned about gaming the SERPs and trying to get some traffic to their sites. What’s the point of non-qualified traffic any how? Sure many people are looking for information about Google instant and maybe someone’s doom and gloom post could pop-up, but are these people looking for their product or service? Probably not. We simply put together an email for our existing customers explaining Google instant and let them know that we are on top of it.
    http://www.4squaredmedia.com

  • http://www.impactmedia.co.uk/ Steve_Logan

    The sad truth is that if you have ‘SEO is Dead’ as a title people will read it. Of course it’s all nonsense, and more often than not the writer will backtrack a dozen or so times and get themselves in such a tangle that the whole thing is laboured and lost.

    Google Instant has provided the perfect platform for pointless pontification and opinion. Besides the travel blog you highlighted, I’ve not seen any hard facts (no matter how small the number of people taking part) about it and making outlandish statements before doing so is just a way of getting attention.

    I’ve read the same thing said 10 different ways and nobody has any more insight than the next person. Although some might argue that goes for a lot of subjects in the industry.

    Great post.

  • http://blog.essentialtravel.co.uk/no-one-is-looking-at-google-instant.html Zoey

    Hey Justin, thanks for the nod, much appreciated.

  • http://www.justinparks.com Justin Parks

    It is indeed a sad truth and I would speculate that the same “tactic” (I shudder when I call it that) is probably employed across different industries in similar ways to generate response. Expect, of course those industries that have some self respect and decorum or which are restricted and controlled by law.

    Thanks for taking the time to leave your thoughts.

  • http://www.justinparks.com Justin Parks

    “What’s the point of non-qualified traffic any how?”

    There are people out there who will argue that this all gains exposure and thats marketing. Any news is good news type syndrome. Load of bollocks it you ask me, they are all obsessed by “the numbers”.

    Qualified traffic is really all that matters.

  • http://www.justinparks.com Justin Parks

    Thats what makes me sick…the blatantly stupid part of it.

    I lost so much respect for people I thought had some sense over the last while because of this practice. Really quite depressing.

  • http://andybeard.eu AndyBeard

    SEO Is Dead
    Bullshit Is Dead
    SEO Is Alive
    Bullshit Is Alive
    oh I give up

  • http://www.justinparks.com Justin Parks

    LOL – Bullshit Is Alive was fine!

  • http://www.justinparks.com Justin Parks

    My pleasure. was a good piece and deserved it!

  • http://twitter.com/PPCNI Jordan McClements

    I agree. I get a lot of unqualified traffic to one of my sites in particular, and each visitor is worth (this is not a precise figure as it is a while since I checked) … drum roll… approximately 0.0000018765 pence… (though I guess if you get millions of visitors a month then you *could* make a fairly tidy sum from AdSense even with totally unqualified traffic..

  • http://www.houses-for-sale-in-spain.net grahunt

    Nice post Justin. Doesn’t take much to wind you up atm does it ;-)

  • http://www.justinparks.com Justin Parks

    No. :P

  • Anonymous

    Ha, cool site. The SEO Dead posts are pretty ironic, since they are mostly by people using the aged old link bait tactic of creating controversy to gain links. I am sure it will be social media’s turn to get a kicking in 5-10 years time. Some of the most cringe worthy posts I have read over the past 3 months are from social media gurus telling us search is dead, we don’t need it anymore.

  • http://nepalsites.myopenid.com/ Roshan

    LOL. lot comes from those who are irritated by the patience of SEO i think.

  • http://twitter.com/DocSheldon DocSheldon

    Good piece, Justin! And you’re right… Zoey’s piece was the one of the sanest out there.

    I guess the cosmos needed some balance, after Steve Rubel’s word vomit. ;)

  • http://www.green9media.com/ Glenn

    Totally stupid, and totally obvious, indeed.

    The worst is when these people are lauded as heroes or visionaries, like Jason C. from Mahalo… http://www.rankedhard.com/jason-calacanis-seo-has-no-future.php UGH!

  • http://www.green9media.com/ Glenn

    This one gets me, because I understand there are different levels of “qualified traffic.” For example, some traffic will convert (if there’s a goal) on their first visit. Others will convert on their 3rd visit. Some won’t convert at all, but influence others in their social circles to (whether by talking about a brand with their colleagues, sharing a link to a site, or influencing Google’s social circle results).

    Yes, there’s different levels of qualification… different target groups… but just spamming to everybody and their mother is NOT the right way to target these people! It’s a shotgun approach, and has collatoral damage that makes a brand look stupid. It’s a sniper approach that makes the whole process better, imho.

  • Anonymous

    We simply collect e-mail to our existing customers to explain the moment Google and tell them that we are on it.

    Motorcycle Accessories

  • Anonymous

    I guess in case you get millions of visitors a month then you could make a neat sum from AdSense even with unqualified traffic.

    self catering cottages

  • http://www.ambienbuyonline.com/ buy ambien

    SEO will be always alive. You don’t know how to use it.

  • Anonymous

    Sure many people are looking for information about Google instant and maybe someone’s doom and gloom post could pop-up
    Office Furniture

  • BuyGiftsItems

    SEO cant die but possible that smo may take place of seo in future

    a deal a day

  • Anonymous

    I guess if you get millions of visitors a month then you *could* make a
    fairly tidy sum from AdSense even with totally unqualified traffic..
    Plumber Service

  • http://twitter.com/frivmini frivmini

    I have read each and every point and found it very interesting
    http://www.frivmini.com | http://www.kizimini.net