mr_dredd2 - 7:34 pm on Dec 11, 2001 (gmt 0)

ok, at the risk of being inflamatory, I want to wax lyrical about this, but also really want to find out peoples opinions on this.

I work for an seo company that does a number of bigger clients, and hoping to do more and more, as more and more are turning their attention this way - theres actual money to be made with this.

The issue is this: what big companies do you know, in the present climate, who will be willing to entertain "non-spam" techniques - i.e. changing visible page copy, re-arranging website into more logical order etc.

I can tell you, hardly any. They have content management systems, pages that change constantly, marketing considerations - they are NOT looking for solutions which will cause them even more work and headaches in their change control. They have dynamic databases, badly structured sites or mainly graphic sites.. the list goes on. All the problems which you see on non-corporate sites. The difference is, they are not looking to hire SEO which complicates matters further - they just want a non-intrusive methodlogy which they can farm out and forget.

So: its a matter of this: do technically spam techniques, which can be non-intrusive, not get in the way of their precious layouts, of content management, OR loose the contract. Simple.

So.. technical spam ethics go out the window. I'm not talking about hardcore spam, not even cloaking, 500 domains each with one keyword, off-topic keywords etc. I'm talking about all the low-intensity technical spam techniques most of us know about.

I personally get quite frustrated when people wax lyrical about how you can do a perfect seo job with not even the slightest technical spam - content, structure etc etc. It seems to me there are different levels of SEO - personal website, small - medium clients who are ameniable to alterations, and all the rest which want an SEO service with no hassle or extra complication whatsoever.

In other words, there's no such thing as a standard SEO methodology. There is no absolute holier than thou ethical SEO methodlogy - not in the real world, and not if you are trying to target the bigger fish (who incidently are tehmselves looking more and more at SEO in difficult economic times).

All this holy, perfect SEO does really get on my nerves, and I'm sorry if I'm coming accross rude, but its just not as simple as some would make out - especially if this is your living. I don't wish to offend anyone, but I think this is a real issue that probably divides a fair number in the SEO community.

So I would really like to hear what people think, whats the consensus on this - especially those who have bigger clients who really don't want to know about serious changes to their website.

Thanks!!!