Hi Jill,

Hope you can help!

I am coming across a lot of offers for software for SEO.  A lot of them are
offering different sorts of analyzers, etc. — which I’m not sure are
helpful.  Is there any sort of software that is real SEO software and
actually does some actual SEO work to your site?

I know this is probably the silliest question you’ve ever had, but I am
looking for software that does this, if it exists! If you don’t ask, you
don’t get.

Regards,

Nadeem

++Jill’s Response++

Hi Nadeem,

Don’t worry, this is certainly not the silliest question I’ve ever had; in
fact, it’s a fairly common one. If such software existed, it would certainly
make all of our lives easier!  But the truth is that it would be impossible
for such software to exist, because of the very nature of SEO — regardless
of what the software vendors try to tell (sell) you!

Let me explain.

Although one would think that since search engines are using a formula for
determining how to rank websites in the search results, it follows that the
formula could be reverse-engineered.  If that were the case, then yes,
someone could invent some SEO software to do that very thing. In fact, back
in the olden days of SEO — I believe it was sometime in the mid-90s when
Inktomi was being used as the backend for a few search engines — someone
had developed a specific template that could allegedly be filled in with
your keywords of choice and it would basically guarantee you a high ranking!

Back then, search engines weren’t even close to being as sophisticated as
they are today.

Today, the formulas (or algorithms) have so many aspects to them, with each
factor possibly affecting other factors, that you can’t just follow any
specific set of rules to gain rankings.

Let me be very clear on that — there are no specific rules that will always
provide you with a high ranking in the search engine for your keywords of
choice for any given page. None. Nada. Zilch.

And that includes Google’s webmaster guideline “rules” and all the stuff you
read in SEO articles, as well as the information provided at conferences.
You will never find that quick-fix, automated, magic-bullet list of specific
things that will work for every site/page every time. SEO is simply not
black and white, and what the so-called experts tell you is generally just
their own best guesses based on what they’ve experienced.  It’s exactly that
experience with hundreds of different sites that enables them to fit the
perfect SEO strategy to the site in question.

This was illustrated recently in a survey given to some prominent
link-building consultants at Wiep.net. Nearly every aspect of link-building that
was asked about showed disagreement amongst the experts.  Now, if all these
experts who have been link-building for years couldn’t agree on the answers,
and in fact, were even sometimes contradicting each other, how the heck could
there ever be any software that could do SEO?

There couldn’t be and there isn’t.

We’ve all seen software packages out there that purport to be able to SEO
your pages.  Do not believe them, and do not waste your money on them,
unless you have extra to waste.

Along with being a scientific endeavor, SEO is largely a creative endeavor,
and that’s where the software fails.  Most of SEO is done through creative
means.  First, knowing exactly what the specific site in question needs.
Second, thinking of a unique and interesting strategy that makes sense for
those needs.  And third, understanding how to implement that strategy.

Every site is different.  That’s the key point to remember.

This is not to say that there are no SEO tools out there that can automate
some of the repetitive SEO tasks — because there are plenty of those.  And
there are certainly some that can help evaluate a current site and help with
some advanced research.  But you’d be living in a dream world if you believe
that there could ever be a software program that could be set to SEO a site
without any knowledge or effort on your part.

Hope this helps!

Jill