A couple weeks ago, Bill Slawski posted on Twitter asking if SEO writing is dead.
Bill Slawski has been in the SEO industry since the 90s, before even me. :) He writes some of the most detailed and technical SEO posts out there, more than almost anyone I know, on his blog SEO By The Sea.
So for him to see shallow SEO posts out there, either on sites like this (okay, nail me in the comments) or others, it can be upsetting.
Here is Bill's tweet:
Are people who write about SEO still important in SEO? Is SEO writing dead?
— Bill Slawski (@bill_slawski) May 28, 2014
Now, most people say there is still value in SEO blogging and writing but there is no doubt, there is a ton of bad stuff out there.
Bill doesn't think I am the source of that bad stuff, thankfully:
@rustybrick I do value tremendously the news, updates, information, and thoughts that you share, Barry.
— Bill Slawski (@bill_slawski) May 28, 2014
But I admit, I am sure some of the content I produce, or a lot of it, can be done better.
Anyway, Kim from Cre8asite Forums expanded on Bill's tweet saying:
Do we need SEO writing? YES! All you need to do is to wander into any forums where SEO is a topic to see the questions, frustrations and experiences from people struggling to make their sites come up in search, battle penalties or learn how to implement even the basics. People come to forums after having been ripped off or hiring a company that got their website into huge trouble. This is evidence to me that not only are there dangerous articles on SEO out there, but more importantly, a real fear and lack of trust not only towards the SEO industry but whom to hire.
Content in general is an issue on the web. There is just so much of it, and we can blame or thank Google for that.
That being said, I am not sure if this is an SEO specific issue or just a general issue with the web in any industry.
I started this site well before there were SEO blogs out there. There were many a handful of them. Now there is a new one every week.
So I ask you, anonymously, should SEO bloggers go away:
Forum discussion at Twitter & Cre8asite Forums.
Image credit to BigStockPhoto for burning book