Once in awhile you’ll hear a search engine marketer claim that they’ve been in business since 1995. Such claims are often made to give the impression that the search engine optimizer has been performing search marketing tasks longer than the competition and there knows more than the competition. You’re supposed to believe that they can get you better results than the competition. First off, it isn’t true. Secondly, no one was doing SEO in 1995.

Search engine optimization techniques didn’t come about until after Google entered the scene around 1998. It took a couple of years for Internet marketers to catch up and figure out how Google’s algorithms were changing things. So SEO as a professional skill really didn’t develop until around 1999-2000, and really didn’t become an official enterprise until 2001. So claims of being around before that really are kind of hollow.

I’m not saying that Internet marketing experience prior to 2001 is irrelevant or has no value. I am saying that such experience doesn’t mean you’ll produce better results than anyone else or that your experience makes you a better Internet marketer. Aaron Wall didn’t start until 2001 and he’s one of the biggest names in the business.

Because most of the changes that have affected search engine optimization have come about since that time, most SEOs who have been around since 2001 are every bit as talented as any that started before that. Some Internet marketers who predate that year, in fact, have not updated their skills are still stuck in 1999. If your SEO fits into that category then he isn’t doing you any good. SEO is not rocket science. Don’t let the so-called gurus fool you into believing it is.

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This entry was posted on Sunday, January 13th, 2008 at 9:44 pm and is filed under Internet Marketing, SEO. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.