The Path to Online PR Agency Nirvana: Why We Need Content Optimisation & SEO

I got caught up in a vehement exchange yesterday in relation to a post by Eggrage entitled 'Seven Reasons Why You Don't Need SEO.' (See - http://www.eggrage.co.uk/7-reasons-why-you-dont-need-seo/)

Something about the name of the blog and the article should have warned me.... But I waded in nonetheless. It's a good read - very provoking, and very right and totally wrong in equal measure.

The basic argument is this: you don't need to pay top dollar for specialist SEO services because all of your SEO best practices ought to be built in to your site design and production at source.

This thinking is spot on.

Who needs additional 'Content Optimisation' and 'Link Building' strategies if we're creating compelling, SEO- and user-friendly content in the first place? Nobody! Well implemented content and good site design pleases the Google God and human readers in equal measure. And, if your stuff is really interesting, then someone, somewhere may be kind enough to give you a backlink or two by referencing your stuff in their content, or bookmarking you on Stumbleupon.

There's just one problem: we don't live in this world. Not every marketing manager, web designer, or copywriter understands the basic principles of good SEO.

When all's said and done, the discipline of SEO - as an activity and a profession - is a stepping stone on the road to online marketing enlightenment. One day we won't need to outsource all of this wizardry to yet another consultant whose role it is to overlay technical SEO smarts on our stuff.

Nope, the future is a place where every online marketing person does SEO as part and parcel of their wider work. Great search optimized page titles will be written without taking counsel; great code will be implemented without expensive rewrites; and great link-generating content will be dreamed up and implemented.... all because the marketing of the future will be web-native. Anything and everything we do online will be done in the spirit of 'Online PR'.

Born-on-the-Web firms get this (particularly those that are offer promotion-based services like Twitter and Seesmic), as does the FaceBook fraternity: every move they make promotes the brand or the individual in a web-friendly way. It's all about online PR and awareness building. They participate in other people's online presence and they facilitate and encourage dialogue via the fantastic content they produce and the tools they build. SEO is just a natural part of their DNA - it's not an add-on.

As such, smart companies don't 'do' SEO - they do Online PR instead.

In the meantime, the rest of the world is in catch up mode: it needs help so that it can rewire the work that it does.

Footnote: the source article is a GREAT example of a smart SEO campaign. Controversial content, well written, technically spot on, and stuffed with great ideas and keywords. The result? Bucket loads of comments and links and references to it (including this one), all around the keyword theme of 'SEO.' Our man doth protest too much! I know a good SEO at work when I see one.

Roger Warner has over 15 years experience in web, technology, and PR-related communications practices - including a lengthy stint as Director of PR for IBM Europe, and running campaigns for the likes of HP, Toshiba and other household names. Online PR agency Content and Motion gives you its top five tips for online PR