I've fallen into a bout of skepticism concerning SEO. Sure, it makes your site more searchable by crawlers, makes your site easier to find and categorize, etc., etc., etc. But it can't make bad content good, nor can it make a boring site interesting. So it seems like a very secondary, or even tertiary, thing. Won't great content, no matter how lousy the web design - and some pretty popular ugly sites exist - win the day? I agree for the most part except that the majority of people cannot create great content. It's also valuable in competitive niches. the problem with it is bot important since not only search engines are looking into your site.. but also visitors... and having good looking and search engine friendly site really make a difference.. Quote: Originally Posted by ewomack 
But it can't make bad content good, nor can it make a boring site interesting. So it seems like a very secondary, or even tertiary, thing. Won't great content, no matter how lousy the web design - and some pretty popular ugly sites exist - win the day? You've probably hit onto the key thing - SEO isn't the be all and end all of your efforts. Having SEO friendly site is not a lot of use (although it could be to advertisers) when your site is so bad you're not going to keep the traffic. On the flip side, having a beautifully designed and user friendly site is not a lot of use if you can't attract the traffic there in the first place. So, it's the balance which is the key.
But it can't make bad content good, nor can it make a boring site interesting. So it seems like a very secondary, or even tertiary, thing. Won't great content, no matter how lousy the web design - and some pretty popular ugly sites exist - win the day? You've probably hit onto the key thing - SEO isn't the be all and end all of your efforts. Having SEO friendly site is not a lot of use (although it could be to advertisers) when your site is so bad you're not going to keep the traffic. On the flip side, having a beautifully designed and user friendly site is not a lot of use if you can't attract the traffic there in the first place. So, it's the balance which is the key.