The labels applied to both those camps have been respectively white and black SEOs.  In reality, the majority of webmasters and SEO firms like SEOP Inc have been on the white hat side.  I think you have to be to survive, but it seems there is a growing trend, that’s dictating we choose one side or the other.  That’s what Goggle seems to be doing, since both methods seem to be working.  I’m of course referring to the old battle theories of links vs content.  Which is king, and which is queen.  Google would have liked us all to believe it was content, but the majority of professional SEOs would have told you links.  The current talk and test results seem to indicate both sides are right.  At least until the next big change from the big G

Well, also through some of the PR efforts of the big search engines including the likes of Google.  They tend to come down so hard on SEO in general, that everyone with a website assumes SEO is  something bad and to be avoided.  Meanwhile, the good folks working hard and diligently as white label SEO service providers get grouped in with them.  It’s a bit unfair, and simply misunderstood I think.  Sure, you can and should do some of what the search engines suggest.  Taking content creation.  It think, it’s a terrific idea to put up great content and provide all kinds of wonderful services on your website.  But to stop there, would be a disservice to your business and your shareholders.  Every business has a right to promote themselves, and that’s really what SEO does for your website.

If you had a regular bricks and mortar business, you’d pass out flyers, hire a marketing firm, pay for advertising, make cold calls, and generally tell everyone and their dog just how wonderful your company was.  SEO does the same thing for your website.

Getting visitors to your website, can be accomplished in a number of ways.  You can pay for advertising on other sites, through a model often known as PPC (pay per click).  Basically, if a visitor is referred to my site from another site that has a link to me, then I pay a fee for that visitor. Another approach is to do SEO on your website, or outsource it to a firm like Datadial.  They are a search engine optimisation agency that understands what it means to get visitors from the search engines.  By following the techniques they practice, you can get very targeted visitors to your website, that will be interested in what your website is all about.

Instead, we’ll just have to soldier on doing what we do.  Building good content sites, giving the people what they want, and testing testing testing.  I suppose, I could simplify things, and just say that good content and a solid linking strategy will win the day, but people don’t always believe it.  New marketers and business owners seem to think there must be some other secret dark magic at work here.  And while it’s true there are some nuances to those basic premises, but the basics are still what counts.  Good content and links are always important.  But, what defines good content, and what kind of links should I get?

As they say, the devil is in the details.  And, I believe that entirely.  That’s where it helps to have a professional.  They know the ins and outs of getting the job done.  They know how to create good web content that the search engines love.  Content can come in all shapes and forms these days.  Video, music, pictures, software, and plain old text all drive the web.  The engines are getting smarter these days, and can do a lot more than just read words.  At least the good ones can.

Secondly, a professional SEO knows the best way to get good incoming links to your website.  They understand the details of anchor text, and in context linking.  They understand thematic optimization, and how certain words relate to each other.  They also understand people as well as search engines.  They know that building your websites for search engines only would be a mistake.  Your sites need to convince the engines to rank you, but they also need to communicate with the real human visitors when they arrive.