Forum Moderators: phranque
By consensus...we may be able to narrow that down.
What do you use as a title?
I agree with the opinions above that SEO's should have started broadening to being internet marketing specialists several years back when the writing was on the wall that search engines themselves wanted to profit from their own services rather than taking losses and leaving it to big SEO companies to make all the money in an opportunistic spin off industry. There was a window as Se's developed where being a full time SEO was sensible for more than a few. That time is now history.
It still amazes me how many people seem to "expect" free referrals from Search Engines and get all upset when algos are changed, penalties are applied, and charges imposed. They say "all their work has been in vain" and that "their livelihood has been crushed". Get with it. Things change. The easier it is achieve something, the easier it is to lose it. Dont expect the SE industry to provide you with a livelihood unless you give something back (usually cash) in return.
An internet marketing specialist can keep that nomenclature for ever. No matter how the nature of internet marketing changes, they will decide what methods to use for each client which may still include SEO, but also ad placement advice, PPC, PPI advice and campaign management, branding, off-line ad vehicles, reciprocal linking and encouraging linking from others. Even apart from the fast declining options for engines that "pure" SEO's can work with, there also is evidence that SE's are becoming less important as a way for people to find "stuff" on the Web.
I agree w/ chiyo that we must accept economic reality with respect to the commercial vs. non-commercial divide, but there has always been a degree of "free" promotion in the traditional business world. The "other" PR = public relations.
>Search Engine MarketingI'm not marketing a search engine, I'm promoting a site.
I think the only accurate assesment of todays seo industry is summed up best by the good old generic:
Search Engine Promotion
I build a software engine. I also help design the UIs, then we toss it to the graphics guys to pretty it up.
I don't have any pure clients though. We are either a partner in them, or own them outright (our own sites). SEO is just tossed in for fun.
Yahoo, Google, AOL, Lycos, will all provide "free" referrals. I don't mind paid submissions, I mind PPC. That's why I'm annoyed at Looksmart. If they moved to $300/yr it'd probably still be okay. I had wanted to get the 5 URLs/site, and would have on one site but we were waitting for the relaunch. Oh well.
From the customers pov I'm "Da Man" when it comes to making them more money.
Customer = "Tom Sawyer"
SEO = "Huckleberry"
They use you to show them how to do it.
Then they do it themselves.
As long as they keep on calling me I really don't care what I am called.
I think if you're studying SEO to do for clients, also study above-the-fold techniques for increasing sales, methodologies of increasing traffic apart from search engines, and ways to KEEP users. The more we know the more valuable we are, and the more effective we are consistently (in terms of results) the more people will want to pay for our services.
Imagine in the future when the web stabilizes (as it's starting to do now) into a normal market. People will begin to know what works and what doesn't, and if we establish ourselves as a force that works wonders, then we'll be set ;)
