While I was off doing some work Jill and Lisa engaged in a debate over whether or not we need SEO standards. Even though I’m a day late and a dollar short I’m still going to throw my 2 cents in.
The biggest problem with SEO standards is we’ll get some half baked, half assed, implementation that’s just as bad as the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). As a concept it’s seems like a wonderful idea, everyone agrees to a set of established teachings and has to meet a minimum set of standards. Should enable customers to do apples to apples comparisons and eliminate con artists and shiesters, right? Wrong my naive and misguided friends, what we end up with is a big fat goopy mess.
One of the problems with NCLB is teachers have a very small amount of time they are allowed to use to explore off curriculum material. If an SEO wants to retain certification do you think they’ll be encouraged to try new things or contemplate outside of the four sided parallelogram?
Did you know that part of NCLB requires the name and address of every student be sent to the US Government who passes it along to the military recruiting offices? Do you think it’s a stretch to imagine registration of name, address, email, and websites will required to be shared with all the search engines?
Do you think that NCLB fosters an atmosphere of exceptional teachers teaching to students who want to grow and learn? Or do you think it encourages “teaching for the test” and students who learn to sit in their place and adhere to the lowest common denominator thinking? Do you think SEO standards are about creating superstars who challenge and force the industry to grow? Or do you think it’s about handicapping everyone and striving for a level playing field where third rate hacks get to play with the big dogs?
Who do you think is going to set these standards? Heck SEMPO hasn’t done a damn thing for me, and I have a hard time finding anything meaningful they’ve done to educate the outside world about search. Don’t believe me? Take an informal survey of your clients and ask how many have heard of SEMPO, I’d be shocked to learn you had to use your second hand to count them.
Have you ever been part of large committee? Do the words innovative and leadership leap to mind, or does your head fill with nightmares of bureaucratic red tape, internal politics, and watered down compromises?
Do I think we need some form of certification to prove that you are an SEO, sure. Every client should say show me something more competitive than [fuzzy pink sock puppets in Los Angeles] that you rank for. Yes I believe that every consulting agency should have their own in house sites to show clients, for R&D, testing, and experimentation. I also think everyone should prove they can get a website banned every few years. If you’re a race car driver and you don’t smack into the wall or another car now and again, you aren’t pushing yourself and your machinery, all you’re doing is playing it safe.
Don’t get in line and support industry standards …
Don’t get in line and support mediocrity …
Don’t volunteer to go on the leash and accept “the man” as your master …
