Seo Thoughts from Greg Howlett of Marketing Pilgrim has some comforting thoughts that support my own approach to SEO/SEM.  in More on SEO Howlett says that most of what people think of as "SEO" has become ineffective.

"…4) In the past, you could quickly throw up microsites and easily get rankings. That is changing rapidly. I believe that you will have better success by limiting the sites in your portfolio so that you are not spreading your SEO resources too thin. In the future, I expect that the resources needed to get good rankings will continue to grow and this belief will become even more true.

5) The time needed to implement a solid SEO strategy is growing. You might need to plan on years before recouping your investment in many industries. As mentioned before, if you can use crash and burn tactics on throw-away sites to get quick cashflow, go for it.

I found it does take a while to do SEO but for blogs the process is much faster - but those for whom are already popular with many backlinks can have, more or less, instant SEO.

In an earlier article the day before titled 8 Tips for Avoiding an SEO Fraudster Greg Howlett says that 90% of the SEO industry is "either incompetent or crooked".  That sounds extreme but I'd say the value proposition for doing SEO is sorta flawed in the first place, since we're playing a guessing game with Search Engines on what they consider to be important and how the ranking factors are applied:

"…The SEO industry is full of consultants that are either incompetent or crooked. How many? I would guess well over 90%. As a result, there is an unbelievable amount of noise in the industry that makes it almost impossible to actually get to the truth. If you want to hire an SEO consultant or contract out your SEO, I feel for you. We as a rule do not do that, so I really cannot make any good recommendations. We have hired for short periods of time some of the top names in the industry, but have in general, been disappointed."

First, you have the Search Engines that don't really want you to do SEO in the first place…why?  Because it makes more work for them!  They want good content to bubble up to the top of the search results naturally, without people trying to manipulate it …. but because everyone who does SEO wants to be on Top of the Search Results…. it means they have to keep changing the Alogrhytm around in a game of musical chairs every couple of months - to keep everyone confused.    To a Search Engine, the Alogrhytm is like their "Secret Formula for Coca Cola"…..the Algorithm is what makes the search engine really stand out.  So the last thing Google wants you is for you or I to figure out what their ranking criteria is …… because then they have to put a lot of work into re-ordering the rankings and that puts them at risk that one of the re-orderings will be of less quality then the previous ones… which is kinda what's been happening.

On the other hand, you can argue that good SEO people, including Black Hats, are what keep Google, in particular, on their toes - inspiring them to get better and better - so they can outwit even the smartest Black Hat…and it's a never ending war.

Given that … who does Greg Howlett think could do SEO properly - the same group that give the presentations at SES …and that's it?  That's probably true …and you'll spend a load of money on them and now …. spend a year or two before you can really qualify your investment with returns you could not have had.

So, from my point of view, without even trying …everyone who does SEO, including me…is already almost guaranteed to fall into the "incompetent" category…since there's no way I can know more than a subset of any of the ranking factors that any of the search engines are going to be using and swapping out at any single time ……… and that's just the way the Search Engines want it.

Personally, I don't really want to do SEO anymore (I like the blogging approach much better and it's also much faster) ….. "regular seo" is not fun and clients who want to have it done for their sites expect results in a couple of months…results that Greg Howlett says are next to impossible to get……..and I agree.

Here's what I think he meant……. 90% of the SEO consultants out there, in his opinion, don't do the "due diligence" part and cover the basics in a consistent way ..therefore, in that sense, they probably are incompetent.

But my feeling …… people aren't doing the basics because it the back of our minds ….we know they are pretty much irrelevant.

What works, that I've found, is good content and a site that is SEO Accessible - (ie: get rid of Flash, stuff like that) - and that's what I do with people - try to figure what they should be doing …… but I don't pretend to have all the answers and I don't think anyone that does.