SEO Myth: My Computer Guy Can Do SEO

This is the first in a series of articles that I'm calling "SEO Myths". As I work with customers, potential customers and competitors; it's amazing the things that I hear about SEO.

There are a lot of great people out there with good intentions who know zip about SEO. Hey, I know. Not everyone can be an expert like those of us here at SpryDev. ;-) Hopefully, by debunking some of these Myths we will have a happier, more educated SEO consumer.

SEO Myth: My Computer Guy Can Do SEO

A really terrific business woman was referred to me recently who had just taken over her company's local offices. We talked for a few minutes and I asked her if she had done anything to her site for SEO. "Not much," she said, "but I did ask my computer guy to add some keywords to the site."

I have a computer guy. His name is Erik with the Austin, Texas IT company Comp-U-Help. He's a great guy to call when my computer gets a virus or the network isn't working. When my laptop doesn't connect? I call Erik. One little thing about Erik, though. He doesn't know the first thing about SEO. How could he? He's a busy guy. When he's not working for me, he's getting certified in the latest Microsoft software or learning how to troubleshoot network problems. Is he technical? Sure! But SEO? Forget about it!

I would no sooner ask Erik to do SEO than I would ask a plumber to fix my transmission. Sure, he'll take my money but what kind of results will I get?

Needless to say, I was skeptical. But, this is a really smart lady and she wasn't just going to take my word for it. She asked me the hardest question I've ever gotten from a potential SEO customer. She asked, "OK, Ben. What is the one question I can ask my computer guy to determine if he knows SEO?"

WOW! What a GREAT question. That is a very powerful question! The answer would probably be the single best tool I could use win more business than I could ever know what to do with. I had no idea how to answer.

I wracked my brain but I couldn't think of just the right question she could ask this computer guy. Do I ask about Title Tags? That seems so basic. What about linking? Too technical for my customer to understand. Keyword density? Maybe...but it just doesn't seem that important. What is that one question?

I told her I'd call her back and as quick as I could I got to a WiFi hotspot and pulled up her site. My fingers trembled over the keyboard as I waited for the site to come up and...I was saved.

The only thing he did was stick a couple of overly-generic keywords in the the metatags. I called her back and said to ask him this:

"Did you just put the keywords in the meta tags or in the title tag?"

Of course I already knew the answer. I also sent her a link to my recent article The Title Tag: The Most Important SEO Tool about this very topic.

So, hopefully, she was convinced that I was the man for the job. I don't know yet, but at the very least she knows this SEO Myth has thoroughly, and completely been...

DEBUNKED.