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I’d like to share an interesting story with you today.
Back in Feb 2009, at the Google SearchMasters conference at Google’s Bangalore office, I got to meet the most popular blogger in India, Mr. Amit Agarwal of Labnol.
On our first meeting, Amit asked me an interesting question. He asked me..
“So Mani..you are an SEO or Blogger ?”
And I replied..
“A bit of both, but more of SEO may be !”, and Amit replied –
“You know Mani, I’m glad you said that. In fact some people get offended being called an SEO, so I wasn’t sure how you’d take it.”
Even though his reply got me laughing, it stuck to the back of my mind and on my return journey, it kept looping in my head.
My only guess is that they are probably insecure about being one. Or else, why in the world ?
Or it may also be that some people do “perceive” SEO to be something to belittle about. Unfortunately some SEO’s themselves belong to this category and I think its complete fair from their part to “feel” offended being called one.
While obviously neither of these reasons are true, I sincerely wish if people changed their thoughts on SEO.(If at al they think its silly.)
And I think I might have to address both the crowds here.
Please understand that SEO is not about H1 tags and sprinkling magic, at least not any more. If you “design” yourself as an SEO Expert or an SEO magician without any results to show, then its natural that people see you as “snake oil salesmen”. Now you created a reason for yourself. So break out of it.
You might be true. Reading an E-Book or reading a few blogs can reach you a few skills but keep in mind that if you call yourself an expert taking the short cut, one million smarter guys would’ve already done it. I mean, give me one good reason why you are the first person in this world to have read that e-book ?
So anyone who think that they have the skills can call themselves an SEO, fine and good !
But please keep in mind that SEO is not a subject (if at all it is one self contained subject) that can be summarized in a 40 page e-book.
In my opinion, SEO isn’t even a subject, it is a set of standards.
Its a skill set and a knowledge pool that keeps changing (have been so far), and evolving in to complex forms, attaching itself with other streams of online standards like social media and analytics.
So if you thought what you read about H1 tags, keyword densities, and cloaking is all that you need to know, and is all that is SEO. Then, I pity you.
Well, technically, an SEO should always be ready to deliver numbers for a client. Be it traffic, authority or ranks. They should work in harmony for a successful SEO.
Otherwise, he is a constant learner, who fine tunes his tools and thoughts and align his practices along the lines of authority yielding white hat methods.
“Hey Mani, nice blog. I’m an SEO Expert too from XXXXXX.
Where do you go for link exchanges? Pls suggest me the best tools and methods for great link exchange.”
Now, looking at the above email (which is a real one I got recently) you can easily make out if the guy is actually an “expert”. I guess, people like this have all the right to make a fool out of themselves. And there is nothing wrong others looking down on you.
The word “expert” is kinda funny by its usage, is it not ? I can guarantee that anyone who says that he’s an “expert” would be looking at taking something away from you.
Anyways, thanks to Amit for “leading” me to think about this. No summaries here, I hope the point is clear. Think about it, no offences to anyone.
Hail SEO (old school, new age, white hat, blue hat and all that..) !
BTW, you can spot both Amit and Me in this video from SearchMasters, if you haven’t seen it aready.
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LOL….a lot of ppl calling themselves experts are getting the boot and the hand and the bricks these days….
I do SEO for my own sites and am pretty confident that I can rank for any damn medium sized keyword out there in less than a year…but I am no expert…because I dnt do that single thing and specialize in it all day like you do
I too know a lot of ppl who think SEO is no big deal. Thing is it is not a big deal at all….just reading every ebook out there and some creativity and innovation can do it….but…
when you build a new home, you simply call a plumber to do the water thingy….even though you can lay a few pipes and change the washer on the tap…Its about doing one thing and knowing the best, efficient and latest ways to do it that makes you an expert in my opinion.
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Mani,
This is nothing new. I’ve been in the IT industry since 1990 and it’s amazing how many “end users” are experts. I believe it takes away from those who truly are and have earned it. I keep it simple – If somebody does not have credentials then they are not an expert.
BTW – Great blog man!
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I am really like to read Amit Agarwal’s Labnol blog
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Arun Basil Lal Replied:
So do I, That was the only blog I used to read for my first two years of online life and I still read it – quite religiuosly ..
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Thats a direct slap on the face of self Proclaimed SEO Experts #Lol
These days we see, Social media experts, Twitter Experts, Adsense Experts and the most common breed, SEO experts.
(Remember me and @AravindJose had a dsicussion over this on Twitter, and we proclaimed ourselves as SEO Shishyas taking you as the Guru )
I dont think many ‘SEO experts’ know much more than HI, H2 tags, and custom permalinks and believe that a high Google PR is the ultimate SEO. But those are the least you can do .. isnt it..?
Personally, I dont know what the real SEO guys like you do, but I know that you cannot make a living by going around changing H1,H2 tags and having a twitter Bio: “Seo Expert, Google my name and I am on top !!! ”
As always, there will be some bad cops that spoil the name of the Good one’s
(btw, I am an SEO lover, anyone can love SEO right..? )
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Mani Karthik Replied:
Arun, I’d prefer call it a clarification.
Anyone can take anyone for a guru, provided the latter is helping the former learn something.
What you are talking about is old school SEO, and theres life beyond that. Guess its what you see that shows in you. You could stop at onsite opt or start with. The SEO you are talking was -5 years, not anymore. Its evolved into SMM (previously a small stint as SMO which I believe is dead too.)
Its like this, one calls himself a pro blogger, because he thinks pro blogging is about No.1 – No.10, while there might be No.11-100, which only one who started with No.1 quite early would know. You can call yourself, problogger, seo guru, wordpress expert, social media optimization expert, heck..twitter expert, social media strategist and all that. Its just a name, people are okay with it as long as you can carry it well. If its awkward they’ll let you know. But people aren’t blind. They’d really figure out if you have the “stuff” without you calling yourself those names. Hope it throws some light.
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Really a very nice information indeed.
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