I’m not an SEO, nor would I want to be really. I only got into SEO because having bust a gut trying to make a large ecommerce site usable, I then realized I needed to market the thing somehow. That was a long time ago, when for me, SEO was fun. Now although the idea of making a successful site is still appealing, the allure of SEO is waning because nowadays it is less easy and predicatable. SEO companys (both good and evil) are attempting to get the top of Google and Google are doing their best to make sure that people who WANT to be top of Google are excluded from doing so. It’s constant reverse-engineering warfare.

I think what annoys me most about the SEO world is the way everybody (including myself probably) wants to show off how good they are but are held back by knowing that their latest tricks (or research driven knowledge depending on how you look at it) need to be kept secret otherwise everybody would be equal.

And when it comes down to basics, SEO is common-sense and easy work. That’s not to belittle it because for me SEO is only interesting when it’s based on user-centred research, when it’s based on log file analysis and market analysis, maybe with some stakeholder interviews and card-sorting and brainstorming sessions thrown in. SEO (for me at least) then needs the client to invest some effort, to get engaged with their site’s subject and coordinate their efforts with the research results.

Of course the technology needs to support all of this and here at the OTHER media we’re always building and aadapting tools to make all of this easier. But the real main hobby-horse of mine at the moment is that SEO is going nowhere fast. Yes, it needs doing but in no longer guaranteed or interesting. SEO is dead.

What’s next? Well either you know or you don’t. I’m not about to spill what I think is the next big thing because I don’t want to… and besides you probably know yourself already. Anyway, here’s a roundup of what you need to be doing and thinking about on a day to day basis, but it isn’t what is going to make you stand out from the crowd…

Ridding the world of Search Engine Submission
Buying Text Links, Is It Evil?
SEO code of conduct?
How to Select and SEO company
Froogle, porn and wrist rests
The keyword is back
AOL gets highest conversion rate