As the owner of an SEO firm, of course I am biased when it comes to standard, hands-on SEO versus SEO software. Disclaimer aside, there are a few areas to consider when deciding whether to go with traditional SEO or SEO software.
First is motivation. Do you wish to purchase SEO software because you think it is cheaper and will do the same job as a traditional search engine optimization expert? If so, then consider that your money and time may be wasted by going this route.
SEO results take time and if an SEO software manufacturer promises results in a few days, well then this is a pretty big red flag. SEO takes weeks and months, not days to achieve top results in the major search engines.
But in an effort (and it is an effort) to keep an open mind concerning SEO software I decided to do a little research. So, the first action to take was to do a Google search for “search engine optimization software”.
The first listing to pop up said it was a ” leading search engine optimization software and doorway page generator” and was “Easy To Use – No Web Experience Needed”. On this site most of the navigation links were not working such as About Us, Contact and Frequently Asked Software Questions. (I’m struggling hard to suspend judgment here).
Another site I traveled to further down the page attempted to keep you trapped on their site with one of those nasty little redirect scripts.
So, I tried a different keyword phrase “SEO software” and came upon a site that advertised “Running from December 1, 2004 until january 1, 2004 … will be holding a “no holds barred”, “gloves off”, “last man standing” search engine positioning competition.” Of course, the calendar was running backwards on this promotion and as of the middle of February 2005 no winners had been announced, so make of this what you will.
Now, I’m not saying that all SEO software is bad, worthless, etc. Some SEO software can be valuable for very specific uses and aid in the overall SEO efforts, such as software that checks search engine rankings, back links or on-page keyword density.
The SEO software that I question are the ones the claim to replace an SEO specialist altogether and put the control into the hands of someone new to the Internet where No Web Experience is Needed.
