Marketing & SEO Discussion List - LED Digest

Something's been on my mind for awhile now, and I've been meaning to write this post. A lot has changed throughout the 8 years or so I've been working online. We went from a revolution, to a bubble, to a burst, and now to a "settlement" of sorts. So much has happened on the Internet in the last decade - the medium has evolved and so has the cultures that depend on it.

The search engine optimization (SEO) culture is of special interest to me. I am fascinated how this industry has taken shape, grown, morphed, and become the driving force behind Internet marketing, promotions, visibility and traffic. To a large extent, search rules the 'Net, and with Google, MSN and Yahoo ruling search (mostly Google) it's understandable why so many spend so much time trying to figure out search rankings.

In a field without walls, secrets, insider information or special privilege, why and how has the search guru become such an important, even ennobled figure online? The search expert is depended upon by the Internet community and forums like this, but also by large Fortune 500 companies and smaller upstarts hoping to increase visibility and generate traffic. But there are no real secrets in SEO! Everything you ever wanted to know is available online. It's fairly basic, really, and with a little common sense quite easy to generate quality content that ranks well by following simple procedures.

But still, the search guru lives on - thrives even - in an atmosphere of bewildered neophytes and lesser professors and initiates. There seems to be so much astonishment at rankings. I'm just wondering, why? It's all right here - online.

I'm not trying to denigrate SEOs, really. I appreciate that many very sharp minds are active in the field. But I also see SEO experts helping to foster this climate of intellectualism, that can take on an air of the pedantic at times, when they pontificate about linkage, keyword research and the "long tail of search."

I have no answers or even questions. Just an insight that the search guru, being a product of the evolution of the 'Net, will also eventually become a product of the past. Even though we don't see it now, someday search too will evolve, and yes, Google will give way to another giant. Not necessarily in the search realm.