While out on Search Engine Land yesterday, getting my daily SEO fix, I came across Danny Sullivan’s retort to a post that bad mouthed SEO.  As I was reading the title, my initial thought was, “Why are people always picking on SEO?”  Then, I decided not to play the victim and moved to a more protector frame of mind and asked, “Who is this person and do they even know what they’re talking about?”  So, after reading Danny’s very thought provoking, yet “in your face” comeback with his real-life case studies, I decided to go and read this post for myself….I was left speechless.

There was so much anger and hate and hostility displayed that while reading I grabbed my heart and gasped aloud, startling my other cube-mates.  I mean, after reading this post, you would have thought that SEO was a living, breathing monster who seeks to destroy any website in its path.  Maybe I don’t get out much, but I’ve never come across a more dark depiction of what we SEOers do.

So, before I unleash the wrath of this post, I want to share my top 3 reasons why SEO should be seen as a valuable piece of any marketing strategy:

1. SEO improves a website so that it can have the maximum potential of exposure in the search engines, which will lead to increased traffic and brand awareness.
2. Good SEO position over time will have a positive impact on your paid search quality score making your PPC campaign more cost effective.
3. SEO gives a place for the social conversations about your brand to live. Providing searchers with a wider variety of channels to engage with your brand.

Bonus- Just like anything else, not everyone can do SEO with the proficiency and effectiveness it takes to see the desired results.

Now, because I understand how this whole “SEO” thing works, I’m going to choose to not give any link love to this blog, but I do encourage you all to Google, Yahoo!, or Bing “Spammers, Evildoers, and Opportunists” and read the post for yourself. I look forward to reading your thoughts.

Thanks to snarkerati.com for the photo.