Search Engine Optimization – Random Thoughts From a PPC Professional Point Of View!
 
 If a person had asked me a few years ago whether SEO is complimentary to paid search or asked a SEO professional whether a person must even do PPC (Pay Per Click aka SEM aka Search Engine Marketing), I am sure both of us would not have given a positive opinion of the other.
 
 One reason for this could have been that SEO is the grandfather of search and it is nearly as old as the search engines themselves, while PPC is only less than six years old. Many SEO professionals detested search engines for introducing paid search and firmly believed that it was a temporary phenomenon – if the SEO firms would have truly supported paid search from the beginning, specialist paid-search companies such as Communicate 2 would have found it difficult to prosper. In hindsight, I am truly grateful they didn’t and both of us got an opportunity to create our own niches.
 
 The other reason could be that SEO and PPC is generally handled by two different departments of the marketer – PPC by the marketing department, SEO by the IT department. Thus, generally there is little collaboration between the two; both working in their own compartments, each thinking that it is the other’s job.
 
 Today, however, I firmly believe that SEO is complementary to paid search rather than being competitive. In fact, PPC and SEO companies can work together to compliment each other’s services quite effectively. 
 

Search Engine Optimizers

SEO is an abbreviation for "search engine optimizer." Many SEOs provide useful services for website owners, from writing copy to giving advice on site architecture and helping to find relevant directories to which a site can be submitted. However, a few unethical SEOs have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to unfairly manipulate search engine results.

While Google doesn't have relationships with any SEOs and doesn't offer recommendations, we do have a few tips that may help you distinguish between an SEO that will improve your site and one that will only improve your chances of being dropped from search engine results altogether.