The Way We Do the Things We Do

SEO is what I do. Lots of other people do it too. Like this guy:

Search Engine optimization and online marketing from SEO'Brien

SEO is what makes the sites you see when you do a search come back at #1 (or #300 if you suck). In competitive markets it can get tough. Sometimes people employ professionals (like the above-mentioned dude) to do it for them. The tricky part is that we really don't know what the algorithms do to process the stuff. There are guidelines to follow, but there is no magic formula. It can be stressful. I liken it to playing the stock market. Things can be going really well for a long time, you show up to work one day and find it has all crashed. The obsessed fight over PR (Google Page Rank, which you see if you install their toolbar) and analyze datacenters (the google results you see aren't necessarily the results I see). There are the link swappers, white hats, black hats.. and the occasional guy who spouts that he's got all the answers. It's a constantly changing battle, but it's a fun ride if you are on top. The really funny thing? The die-hard obsess about Google, but in reality most of our conversions come from Yahoo and then MSN. MSN is considered junk. They give out love to anyone who can fit the 'keyword' on their page 2 million times. Places like Dogpile? They are a nightmare because they throw the combined sponsored results at the top. Ask.com? I'm not even sure THEY know what they are doing. Right now we are on top, so it's good.