Hmmm, maybe I'm biased because I've been working in this industry in a hands-dirty, production capacity for so many years, but I'm inclined to agree with what the fellow says. Only to a certain extent though, of course. I'm aware that there are plenty of
SEO'ers on this forum and I'm not trying to sling mud myself; simply to tell things how I see them - whether I'm misguided or not.
It's seems to me however, that there has been an unprecedented influx of
SEO 'gurus' in this industry. Like accessibility 'gurus' before them, many are offering empty promises to their clients based on scare stories and many conduct their business in a very underhanded manner; i.e. by making unsolicited calls to website owners and b**ching about and criticising their current site/designer. I've been on the receiving end of this a few times in the last year or so from several
SEO'ers that shall remain nameless. They made the schoolboy error of contacting clients with which I have an excellent relationship. Never mind that these morons didn't have a clue what they were talking about; I could have categorically and comprehensively refuted their arguments after drinking 20 pints of Guinness. At any rate, this kind of behavior is completely unacceptable to me. Sell your services by all means. Poach clients by all means. Just do it on the strength of your own product/offering. Slating your competitors to their clients in order to scare them into using your services is just asking for a swift kick to the balls. Aaaanyway, there's been a lot of this going on with
SEO'ers in the last couple of years and it's not on. Some of the crappier Web companies do the same thing but I've not noticed it as much as
SEO'ers over the last few months.
Now I'm not saying
SEO and
SEM aren't important. Nor am I saying that there's no place for search professionals. Far from it. It's a niche area that, it could be argued, holds enough weight to warrant a full-time vocation. Fair enough. However, I think that unless you're really, really good at it then you shouldn't be selling yourself as a professional at all. For example, there is no way I could take an
SEO professional seriously without a very good understanding on XHTML, CSS and semantic markup. Yet many
SEO'ers sites are code soup. If you're going to be a
SEO'er, learn everything you need to know first. Don't just look some stuff up on Google and start offering your services as a professional until you're knowledgeable enough and you're practicing what you preach on every level.
Having said all of this, there are some very wise search professionals in Ireland but, IMO, many (but not all) are simply 'snake oil salesmen'.
/awaits imminent s**t storm/