SEO Tycoon

**Angelosanto** · 10:40 AM

I have just posted this on my personal blog and thought I would share it here:

Oxford English Dictionary Definition:

Quote:

optimize (also optimise)
• verb - make the best or most effective use of (a situation or resource)

The world of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is plagued by the most irritating people in web design. Day after day I read new material, whether on forums, articles, abused social networking sites or some crappy website loaded with hidden keywords, which claims to hold the ultimate secret to SEO, or claims that the best way to "do SEO" is to submit to directories, or the worst one, when somebody replies to a plea for advice with "Get more backlinks".

The reason that these people are such a problem in the area of SEO is usually because they don't belong there - many of them have simply misunderstood or never even contemplated the meaning of SEO. I believe the clue is in the 'O'...

Above is the Oxford English Dictionary definition of 'optimize' and it says pretty much what I expected it to say when I looked it up: "to make the best or most effective use of"

The fact is, that to 'optimize' your site for search engines is simply to modify it to the point that it will be in the best condition to be recognized by search engines for the terms that the user enters that are relevant to the subject matter of your site/page.

This definition automatically rules out artificial backlinking and all forms of spamming as having ANYTHING to do with optimization.

It's not wrong to advertise your site by, say, paying for a backlink from another site, but it is not optimization, it is more to do with publicizing your site.

Quote:

promotion
• noun - 2 the publicizing of a product or celebrity. 3 the activity or business of organizing such publicity

Another dictionary definition. This is the category under which most of what the uneducated think is SEO comes under.

Bottom line - promote your site as you please but don't call it SEO. Remember that SEO has far more to do with what you do ON the page than what you do off of it. Learn what SEO is really about, which is optimizing your excellent content to be recognized by search engines as being excellent.

**chrishirst** · 12-22-2009, 12:29 PM

And it's only taken about five years of me saying the same thing for it to start getting noticed

**Angelosanto** · 12-22-2009, 12:46 PM

I've seen your heroic efforts over three years I've been a member of this forum - and I'm sure you played a part in shaping my attitude towards SEO, so don't think it was all in vain

Now we just gotta work on the confused spammers

**blue-dreamer** · 12-22-2009, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Angelosanto

The fact is, that to 'optimize' your site for search engines is simply to modify it to the point that it will be in the best condition to be recognized by search engines for the terms that the user enters that are relevant to the subject matter of your site/page.

At last, a sensible "SEO" post - kudos to you

Wannabe SEO's - read this thread!

**FenceGuy** · 12-22-2009, 02:51 PM

Wait a &$%*&%$

minute! Are you telling me "Get More Backlinks" isn't the secret of all secrets for SEO?????

You are really gonna break some hearts on here with that definition man, why! So cruel you are!

**Jessica14** · 12-22-2009, 08:24 PM

I got your point about optimizing a websites. But is this information also telling about having a good rankings in Google??

**CadServices** · 12-23-2009, 04:20 AM

i have read your blog it is a fabulous post which provides good knowledge for SEO

**Angelosanto** · 12-23-2009, 07:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessica14

I got your point about optimizing a websites. But is this information also telling about having a good rankings in Google??

It's telling about how the two are connected

**chrishirst** · 12-23-2009, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jessica14

I got your point about optimizing a websites. But is this information also telling about having a good rankings in Google??

If you ever wanted an example of how so many people are clueless about Search marketing, that post would illustrate it perfectly!!!

**blue-dreamer** · 12-23-2009, 08:24 AM

^ can't see wood for trees

**Angelosanto** · 12-23-2009, 04:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chrishirst

If you ever wanted an example of how so many people are clueless about Search marketing, that post would illustrate it perfectly!!!

Exactly. And also a pretty good example of either not properly reading or not properly understanding a post

**lorlangtom** · 12-29-2009, 06:22 AM

optimization is a mathematical discipline that concerns the finding of minima and maxima of functions, subject to so called constraints. optimization originated in the 1940s, when george dantzig used mathematical techniques for generating programs for military application.

**edgray** · 12-29-2009, 06:52 AM

you'd be (un)surprised at how many times this comes up in other SEO forums I frequent - along with, what I am constantly told, are "industry standard" terms like DoFollow... had an argument with someone about that recently at the warriorforum which is full of Internet Marketeers that have the weirdest ideas about SEO and promotion that I've ever heard...

But, at the end of the day, as I always say: DoFollow make good SEO.

**chrishirst** · 12-29-2009, 06:56 AM

You know, warriorforum is another place I have deliberately avoided (much like DP or V7n) there's only so much crap a person can deal with in one lifetime.

**Angelosanto** · 12-29-2009, 10:22 AM

The first time I heard of warrior forum it was in a post that recommended it to me alongside a recommendation for DP so naturally I assumed it was a crappy forum

Glad I was right

**edgray** · 12-29-2009, 10:41 AM

I would strongly recommend not bothering with the warrior forum. There are some prize chumps on there who haven't got a clue. They're all running AdSense junk sites and over the holidays a huge amount of them got banned and started wondering why... plus, they all go nuts over these "backlink packets" and such, it's utter nonsense.

When you genuinely try and offer some help as to why their sites have disappeared from the SERPs, you get yelled at by a "War Room" member...

I tell you, the reason the internet is full of crap is down to the WarriorForum and it's members who care nothing of quality and content, only of clicks, cheating and dollars...

Digital Point is the same, just with much more junk...

**fern** · 12-30-2009, 12:27 AM

You are right - optimization have nothing to do with backlinks. Optimization - plain an simple - have ONLY to do with how the pages in a site are designed in order to be, fist of all, search engine friendly and then making the best of it. Even making it visitor friendly has nothing to do with optimization even when all the work for making it "friendly" is done within the site itself.