Like everyone else, in the online world I suffer from too much work and too little time to sleep. Because work is something I cannot cut down on and life is something I do not want to cut down on I inevitably end up cutting down on sleep time. This means that I am always on the lookout for SEO shortcuts, ways to optimize a website which require less time to do or some kind of SEO trick which will allow me to do more for less effort.

The idea of some ‘push-button’ approach to search engine optimization is one which I can understand, appeals. For obvious reasons. In the online age anything which promises to help us do something “at the press of a button” has advantages over anything which requires longer work.

As a search engine optimizer (SEO) who came up from the good ‘ol days of the web I will admit to having a particular affinity for any process which requires me ‘to get my hands dirty’ because it then allows me to develop a better understanding of it and think about where I can use it elsewhere, but that does not mean that I am adverse to automation and time-saving software. So, I guess, the million dollar question here is are search engine optimization methods employing SEO Software any good or are they a total waste of money?

Those who know me already know that I never dismiss anything without first taking the time to assess it fully and evaluate its potential and this is not going to be any different. The way SEO Software works is that it makes some general assumptions regarding the search engine optimization of your site which are based on the ‘average norm’. When you apply it, it analyzes your site’s SEO potential against those norms and then makes the suggestions necessary regarding what you do to optimize it. In execution nothing could be simpler. You install it on your PC or laptop, apply it to your site and then set about to making the recommendations necessary to improve its SEO standing with search engines. In an ideal world what should happen next is that your site would start to perform better on search engines and rise up fast. It doesn’t and here’s why:

1. The ‘average norm’ does not exist – the web is massive in terms of size and the number of sites in it is growing all the time. The ‘average norm’ is something which does not really exist. If your site has been underperforming really badly it will help a little but if your site is truly ‘average’ you have just wasted your money.

2. There is no ‘one size fits all’ form of optimization – Every website is different and even websites which share programming features and are active in a similar field are different in terms of how they do what they do because different people run them. Because each website is as unique as its owner there can never really be a type of search engine optimization (SEO) which really helps them perform better and which can be applied to all. SEO help is always at its most effective when it is tailored to your website’s precise needs and requirements.

3. It may be out of date – the web changes at a dizzying pace and search engine optimization (SEO) techniques are no different which is why there are so many SEO Tips in our SEO Tips section. SEO Software is designed months or even years prior to release and by the time it hits the market much of what it was based on has moved on. This means that in the worst case scenario where no automatic update has been foreseen the SEO advice it gives you may actually hurt your website rather than help it. If, however, you have got into the habit of optimizing your website manually and can carry out the detailed analysis which is detailed in my SEO book, you are in a position to apply your knowledge to SEO techniques rather than simple SEO actions and this means that what you do evolves as search engine development does.

4. It gives you no room for improvement – by optimizing our site for a non-existent ‘SEO average’ automates SEO Software stops you from carrying out improvements to your site once you have carried out its recommendations. This means that even if your site was helped by its SEO suggestions it will never now move on and it will gradually start to decline again.

So, is it worth getting? Yes, if you have absolutely no SEO knowledge, no time to learn anything and cannot be bothered doing a little reading and understanding how to run your website to your advantage. But for the gains you’ll make you will not actually save anything in terms of money as the SEO Software itself costs quite a bit and you will still, at some point, need to either learn some SEO basics yourself or pay an SEO firm to do all the work for you.

To me buying SEO Software is a stop-gap measure of extremely short longevity. Do it only if you are desperate and be aware of what you are getting.

David Amerland is the author of the Search Engine Optimization book: SEO Help: 20 steps to get your website to Google's #1 page published by New Line Publishing and available to buy from Amazon.com and any quality bookshop. The ebook version of the book is available for Amazon Kindle as well as  Mobipocket, smartphone and Sony eBook Reader formats and available to purchase from any quality ebook retailer. You can also purchase it directly from this website. He masterminds winning SEO strategies for complex online business and helps the average webmaster get their site to the position it deserves. David has been instrumental in taking websites to the top of Google's first page in a way that has kept them there year after year. If you would like David to help you with a specific SEO problem on your website consider our SEO Consultation offer.