It seems like today, almost everyone we know is somehow involved with a website - either they write content that gets distributed online, they have a business and probably have a website, or they are relying on particular websites for their work, studies or pleasure. In short, today, most people recognize the value of Search Engine ranking  - because they are either looking to be found by others or they themselves are looking for good results.  When a topic like search engine ranking, which was until just a few years ago, a non-issue even for most online businesses, starts to become a commonly understood topic, things start to get more complicated. Why? Because suddenly, there are many more people joining the bandwagon to hawk solutions to the challenge — and many more people who know they need a solution, but they are not armed with the proper knowledge to make an informed decision. That’s where all those promises for top ranking in Google come in — you know, the ones who say “automatically submit to thousands of search engines and watch your ranking skyrocket”. People want to believe that instead of investing in hard work or paying an expert, they can pay $99.99 and achieve top ten ranking for their products overnight.

And I have some swamp land in Florida to sell you!

So the multitude of SEO software packages that continues to spring up is no surprise. Some products are quite good. Others are not so good, to put it gently. But most importantly, you should beware of the promises they make.

Search engine’s formulas can not be reverse-engineered.  If they could, it would stand to reason that someone could develop SEO software to achieve highranking for any site. But the search engines such as Google, MSN and Yahoo are a little too smart for that. They are all about delivering the best results to their audience and they continuously refine their algorithms and make them incredibly sophisticated to the point that there just is no specific set of rules you can apply to gain SE rankings.

In my opinion, the only thing that can really truly work, is experience. No one can ever know exactly what needs to be done on a specific site in order to achieve ranking. But for people who do this every day - and see with their own eyes what effects ranking - it is possible to develop methodologies, that combined with creativity, an abilility to keep up with the trends and changes, do work consistently. That’s why SEO is as much art as science. It is possible (and recommended) to use software to automate some of the tasks of your SEO work, but do not be fooled into thinking that any software package will automatically deliver high ranking  - no matter how much it costs. SEO needs to involve thinking and creativity — just like your site needs to. It might sound like a nice idea to have a machine generate your content while you drink beer and watch TV, but we are not there yet - and hopefully never will be. You still have to do some of the work, still need to use your brain. And that’s the way it should be, in my opinion.

So in short, beware of the promises  — whatever sounds too good to be true, usually is.