If you’re a search engine optimization consultant, advertising or marketing agency, or just a web site owner that knows a thing or two about seo, then chances are you’ve heard a lot of buzz in the industry about automated seo. Over the past 6 months I’ve heard about no less than 1 new startup promising to deliver on the promise of fully automated seo per month, no joke. Honestly, some of the promises I’ve heard are quite laughable. Before I tell you why they’re laughable, I’d like to show you some of the promises these new seo vendors are making. They vary from being completely clueless to bordering on fraudulent.
This one is just downright ridiculous. Anyone promising you to do everything for you without you having to know anything about what they’re doing is simply a scam. If it’s too good to be true then it probably…
“…is an automated SEO service which promotes your site in search engines with no previous knowledge required”
This one leads you to believe all you have to do is download their plug-in and your rankings will begin to automagically increase. I’m surprised they didn’t claim their software has the ability to read your mind too. Interestingly, I couldn’t find their company name in any patent searches I did, not cool. But they don’t stop there, they actually rip off Google’s logo style for their own logo, talk about shady!
“Follow a simple account configuration and download of our patent pending SEO plug-in technology. Automatic improvement in search engine optimization ranking.”
This one uses a lowbrow method of focusing on crappy searches that the least qualified prospects are typing in and then generating a ton of equally crappy pages to target those crappy users, all in all, its a crap fest.
“…automated way to collect traffic that no one can focus on…”
This next claim shifts focus from collecting garbage organic search engine traffic to building up a ton of links without lifting a finger, smelling more and more like snake oil from the seo days of old. I love the pitches that make Google look like a big bully that needs a beating, classic manipulation of those who know how to do nothing besides pedaling other people’s products.
“…complete SEO Newbie Bullies Google By Building thousands of Backlinks On Auto-Pilot With No Outsourcing Or Link Swapping!”
I’m going to wrap up the ridiculous quotes with another seo software that claims to automate seo and when you dig into it you see that they’re focusing on a tiny area of seo, ranking reports, that doesn’t really require automation to begin with.
“Takes keywords that you provide and searches Google to see where your site places within the search results. Doing this manually can be time consuming for a large number of keywords and when you start SEO your site may not be listed high at first.”
What does all of this mean?
Well for starters, there is a lot of misinformation in the seo industry, particularly in the area of automated search engine optimization. Most of the companies I’ve quoted above are preying on those that don’t know any better and will only perpetuate the black eye the industry has been given by those guaranteeing rankings and delivering nothing. With so much interest by venture capitalists these days in the automation of seo, we here at SEO Tool feel its critically important to begin educating the industry on what is and is not possible through automation.
Let me know if you’re interested in getting a list of the seo companies I quoted above then and we’ll get you the names and urls of all of them immediately. My next post will go into detail about the overall structure of seo automation and will include the 2 key areas of optimization as well as the technology pillars each of those 2 areas requires in order to actually automate key seo processes.
Not to be a bubble burster, but if you haven’t guessed already, you cannot automate every area of seo. We are no less than 10 years away from automating 95% of seo, but there are some interesting companies working on the components that future automation will depend on and we’d like to think that we’re on of those innovators, only time will tell.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Jason,
Great article and you are absolutely right. Between the misinformation and the misleading SEO firms, many companies are afraid to outsource SEO/PPC.
Educating the public and helping companies set realistic expectations will help improve the industry overall.
Hey Al,
Thanks for the complement. I’m looking forward to getting back into the seo education stream so people know the truth instead of just the hype. Glad you liked the post. Let me know if you want the list of seo vendors that I quoted above.
~jason
Thanks for dropping by Al! Hope you’ve been well and making it happen! Let us know if you want a demo of SEOtool when you have some time. Would be happy to walk you through a GoTo Meeting.