SEO Degrees?
We recently posted the video of an interview I did with Greg Jarboe at the 2007 SES New York conference. In the video, Greg and I were discussing the general lack of qualified search engine professionals that seemed to be one of the main buzz-themes of the conference this year. We both agreed that it was past time for mainstream universities to step up to the plate a little bit and start including some of this stuff in their coursework/disciplinary offerings.
Some of the early comments to the video are common enough. You hear it thrown around as a response to the concept fairly often. Universties can’t teach SEO because it changes too quickly. the technology is just too new… the landscape changes too fast… the rules and guidelines are too fluid. Actually, I really couldn’t disagree more.
As a matter of fact, I kinda think that’s a cop out argument. I’ve been following the industry for almost 8 years now and while things are definitely fast paced and rapidly evolving - I certainly wouldn’t go as far as saying SEO couldn’t or shouldn’t be taught at the university level.
Medicine - for example - another industry that changes at an extremely rapid pace. There are lots of other examples — tax law for accountants, building codes for architects etc etc. Every industry/profession has changes.
Sure the search industry might have more changes than some and the resulting changes might completely invalidate or render moot things that were taught 6 months ago. But I don’t think that is unique to SEO. I also don’t believe it should preclude it as a course of study in universities.
Look at some of the things that change in medicine. Hormone replacement therapy, mammograms, — Vioxx anyone? Things change just as fast in medical science as any other field - that certainly isn’t any kind of argument against medicine being taught as a cirriculum. When things change in medicine there is typically a lot more on the line than a 1st page result for ringtones. For that reason, Doctors are required to complete so many CME (continuing medical education) hours every year depending on their area of practice and what state they are in.
The fact that an industry or discipline ‘changes too much’ is a horrible reason/justification for it not to be taught. The fact of the matter is, there is a huge deficiency of qualified search people right now. There are some organizations like SEMPO and the DMA working to develop/create training and certification programs - and that’ll surely help. At the end of the day however, the question isn’t (nor should it be) SHOULD universities be teaching this stuff - the question is WHEN are they going to start and WHY is it taking them so long.
SEOs constantly complain about their industry being looked down on as shady business. They get all huffy when somebody like Calacanis questions the philosophical merits of their profession, yet many of them bristle at the thought of SEO being taught in colleges. I submit to you that if SEO were part of the marketing curriculum in mainstream universities across the country, it’s own area of specialization -or maybe even it’s own discipline - this staffing crisis be gone in short order. Beyond that, the industry itself would be legitimized and accepted on a far broader basis than it is today.
I agree, i also think that if SEO becomes part of a marketing education the search engine optimization industry will be more accepted. But i think that is gonna take a while… I don’t see it happen overnight.
I agree sort of Mike (I guess it is Mike M, don’t see an author on here anywhere). I would like to re-consider my position on this. I very much agree at the very least basic SEO can be taught, but problems do still exist. The university must rely on the professor to go to every conference and keep up on the quickly changing landscape. Remember it is not so much as one day back links work and then one day they don’t. New techniques are introduced all of the time and keeping up on those is what is hard for the average Joe.
Also applying the science is difficult. Imagine student projects. You have to successful get a website to rank in period of time, a semester or two. As I (and hope most) understand it takes time to apply SEO. Most of the time far more than a semester or two to create content and get traction. In fact only the hottest link bait can get ranked in that short of time.
So how would you grade or test students. Just on “SEO facts” and not application? I know plenty of SEOers” out there that understand the basics, but still struggle to rank. If that is all that is taught and the student is sent off to the work force would that really be fair?
I agree with the author, SEO should be taught in universities. I graduated about a year ago with a degree in Interactive Marketing from, and one of the major reasons I choose this marketing program was because of my interest in SEO as well as general internet marketing.
After completing the program and getting my first job, I have to say I am disappointed in the SEO education I received because the professors really never touched on the topic, and if they did it was very general. Everything I really learned about SEO I had to research online, learned on the job, or from people who were already working in the field.
Yes, SEO is a rapidly changing, but so are other fields. Professors should be staying on top of latest changes and adjusting the curriculum accordingly. I don’t think that’s too hard to ask.
As for application, yes there is a time crunch to see results during a semester, but hands on training is what you should be teaching students, and no graduate is going to come out as an SEO rock star, they will learn much more on the job, but they need to know the basic concepts and how to apply them first.
In one of my senior marketing classes as a group project were ran a direct mail campaign in conjunction with an email campaign, and when it came time to present our results direct mail responses were still coming in, but it was the hands on experience rather than the actual results that helped me learn.
I think one thing that current SEOers can do is form relationships with Universities, most professors would love it if you would lecture/speak to the class on SEO, my company has gotten at least four requests to lecture over the past year. Lecturing is also a great way to find students who are potential hires or interns.
I agree SEO should be taught in universities- the basics don’t change. I don’t think it’s possible to have certifications at this point because of the rapidly changing nature of SEO unless they are very specific such as the Adwords certification for example
Since SEM (done well) is a combination of broader disciplines: psychology, sociology, statistics, and language arts, it might be healthier to talk about existing, similar curricula. I think social marketing is far more appropriate as an academic persuit, and not to different than packages of existing courses. SEO, PPC, PPA, PPCall are more techniques to that end - morphing slowly as the web changes, but underneath embody the same essential concepts of social activity. Search, intent, consideration, etc.
I agree, but i think SEO should having Certification courses.
Hi,
Its a very informative blog.What the author said is hundred percent correct.SEO should be the part of marketing education.Because we all know the necessaries of the seo in the Internet marketing!We will except this soon!!!!!!