Does Search Engine Optimization (SEO) really work?

[smart ass]

Hey, I'm Berry,
I'm working for a sales company and I sell websites with the option to Optimize.
I'm doing great as a salesman, and I love it. My problem is that I have a very strong conscience, and I need to know that this really works... Please let me know, if you really know about this stuff, if SEO is a proven method to improve business.

[Angie D]

lol YES!!!! SEARCH GOOGLE I AM AN EXPERIENCED WEB PROGRAMMER AND KNOW FOR A FACT THAT THIS WORKS BUT IT TAKES UP ALOT OF TIME!!

[just "JR"]

In reality, and for all intend and purpose, SEOs do NOT work...
Why?
Because websites owners expect too much from it, and for the wrong reasons.
Let's look at it on a BUSINESS point of view (I definitely don't want to consider a blog, a twitter or a facebook!)
Think of it:
The SE's are WORLDWIDE "yellow pages".
So, if the business is NOT international, do you think that being optimised is going to give you more business? Of course not!
So, we have TWO kinds of businesses: local and international.
International?
You MUST be in the top list of SE's.
And your site MUST be multilingual (including non-european languages!). If not, you are not international :-)
Local?
What is the point of your little corner shop selling freshly baked bread in Alaska to be seen by SE's in Australia?
The BIGGEST mistake of ALL business owners is to think that SE ranking IS the way forward. It is not. They think that a website is going to give them the edge. It does not.
What these people have forgotten is that a website is NOT the "Panacea Universalis" in marketing: it is just th modern equivalent of a business card or a mobile phone number!
IF you want your site to be successful, you have to ADVERTISE it.
And THIS, is going to cost you 50 folds the cost of yor website.
FULL STOP!
SEO's? Ok for "pron", dating, games, scams and the like.
For the rest?
Forget it!

[Chris G]

Having worked in Internet Advertising for a very long time, SEO can be beneficial. We can obviously conclude that a website will receive more SEARCH traffic the higher the website is displayed in the search results.

However, this isn't to say that your traffic will explode just because you've got the #1 result for some obscure search term. SEO cannot be considered a replacement for search marketing or general advertising, but to say it doesn't work at all would be foolish.

I know a few webmasters who actually make a good living on pure SEO traffic, but they aren't running businesses. A good business should never rely on only search traffic.

[john]

SEO works when it is done on a consistent basis and in concert with all other online/offline marketing mechanisms. I work with my clients to build an online marketing ecosystem that includes SEO. SEO, on its own, is not a strategy or a solution. However; it is an important component to an overall marketing strategy.

[george]

Well, yes, SEO really work and I think you should have some faith in what you're doing. LOL.

[jim c]

Absolutely! I used to own an SEO company, now I do it for my own sites only and it is the only sustainable long term solution for online marketing and e commerce. Now, the biggest issue is that most people do not put the whole program together. Let me explain.

Having the top position is great, but that is part of the solution, you have to have a site that converts and has the "right keywords" ranking before it could be viable.

As far as top ranking in other countries? that is hogwash. I have several e commerce sites that are ranking in google, yahoo, bing (formerly MSN) and many other lesser search engines. If you dominate the US, then you will get top positions in most other countries by default. the US is the most competetive market, so if you dominate here, you get the others also for the most part, and if not, a few quality links can correct it easily.

To show you how powerful SEO is, I am still growing in a down US economy, and growing at quite a good rate.

The problem is finding good SEOs that know fact, not fiction. If your SEO says content is king, you are in trouble. SEO is about links, that is why Google is called a "link popularity engine" and all the content in the world is useless without links to carry each page to the top of the major search engines.

[Rocker]

Is simple terms my friend it depends on the chosen keyword your trying to rank for. The main purpose of SEO is to improve traffic to your business site. No matter your ranking top 10 for the keyword you should make sure the targeting keyword does generate some traffic. For example the term "how to memorize" has a monthly searches of 20000 like wise you should chose a keyword that really is searched for. If proper keyword marketing research is not done properly the purpose of SEO would not work effectively.

Suppose you have made some good keyword Marketing Research and your ranking in the top 10 then definitely SEO works and is the number 1 method and source to earn some real traffic to improve your business.

Hope it helps

[Valerie]

SEO does work. I have several websites that dominate the search engines due to the seo I have put into them. You can makes changes to your site and numerous other things and watch your rankings climb to the top. There are so many things involved with seo you really have to know what you are doing for it to work. I can't get into the details here becuase it would take too long to explain the basics. It's easy for me because I have studied it for years. If you want to learn it for yourself check out this site.

https://stompernet.infusionsoft.com/go/S2LSI/seoguru

You will learn everything you need to know so that you can do it yourself and not pay someone else to do it for you. It's free to signup. If you think seo doesn't work you are really missing out on something big.

[nikki malhotra]

hi,
yes seo really works, if done by targetting good keywords.