What Do You Think Of When You Hear SEO – Twitter Poll

Posted on: September 8th, 2008 by Jeremy Schoemaker

Thought I would ask 5,300 people what is the first thing that pops into their head when they hear the word SEO. Here was their responses ;)

Would you like to see more of these types of polls? I wrote a script to generate them based on the API so its pretty easy for me to do.

@lostinlimaohio (Lilo Verbrechen) says:
@shoemoney that the site I’m working with (didn’t design though) should be labeled to damn ugly to pop up in the first 10 pages
@cassi_hl (Cassi Lowe) says:
@shoemoney I think: I wish I had a job where I could do more SEO.
@kmullett (hunteeer) says:
@shoemoney Search Eng Optimization, act of preparing a site to be technically indexable without incumberances, keyword/phrase saturation etc

@wendelldotme (Wendell Wittler) says:
@shoemoney A CEO who can’t spell.
@g_ro (Greg Rollett) says:
@shoemoney – SEO = opportunity
@omniphiliac (omniphiliac) says:
@shoemoney: SEO = Sordid Erotic Openings.
@tremorx (Michael Johns) says:
@shoemoney some college kid getting paid too much to play around on MySpace and expensing a copy of "serach engine optimization for dummies"
@solidsmack (Josh Mings) says:
@shoemoney SEO: promoting your site better each day
@chrisjacobson (Chris Jacobson) says:
@shoemoney SEO? I think of ShoeMoney trying to game Google and acting like he’s the sh*t!
@tehinternetz (Tehinternetz) says:
@shoemoney search engine optimization…
@keeponrunning (Andrew) says:
@shoemoney search engine optimization , what else?
@marciajones (Marcia Jones) says:
@shoemoney Hours of mind numbing work tweaking html etc. on webpages. Also hours of keyword research for webpages.
@vinceblackham (Vince Blackham) says:
@shoemoney your "SEO Sucks" shirt
@peterwallhead (Peter Wallhead) says:
@shoemoney re. SEO: ppl charging way too much to give you free information.
@joshuasci (Joshua Sciarrino) says:
@shoemoney I should’ve said rank #1 in 2 minutes. ;)
@remarkablogger (remarkablogger) says:
@shoemoney SEO = Money (in all kindsa ways)
@sdreiske (sdreiske) says:
@shoemoney Search Engine Orgy :D
@oilman (Todd Friesen) says:
@shoemoney SEO=a very small part of what I used to do :)
@david_n_wilson (David_N_Wilson) says:
@shoemoney Hmmm… SPAM Most of the contacts I have in a week that involve the letters SEO are spam.
@JustaSunGod (Lee Trujillo) says:
@shoemoney I think of Blood Suckers…tbh
@sugarrae (Rae) says:
@shoemoney short term cash for long term survival
@khawe (Kieran Hawe) says:
@shoemoney maybe I shouldn’t have said SEO = headaches. I will go with the more politically correct "opportunity"
@corprebel (Rick Wilson) says:
@shoemoney To me, SEO = Making sites SE friendly. That’s MY simplistic view of it anyway. heh
@colderICE (John ) says:
@shoemoney Rocketscience and the proving of gravitational earth pull on moving objects?!? SEO is this black box that u can spend ur life on
@spooons (christian) says:
@shoemoney a set of techniques/practices in coding websites so they are standards based, compliant, and indexable. NOT a person/deceptive
@skeeterbess (skeeterbess) says:
@shoemoney Manipulation is the first word that comes to mind.
@amyderby (Amy Derby) says:
@shoemoney Sudden Ecoli Outbreak (just kidding…)
@theNetImp (theNetImp) says:
@shoemoney search engine optimization of course ;-)
@homebiss (homebiss) says:
@shoemoney Time wasting. SEO is kinda silly. SE algos change from time to time. We could never understand them.
@JTChandler (JT Chandler) says:
@shoemoney when I think of SEO I think of @rockynate
@mwsmedia (Matthew Selznick) says:
@shoemoney Search Engine Optimization. Both white hat and black. There is no gray, in my mind.
@UtahSEOpro (jordan kasteler) says:
@shoemoney i think of search engine optimization
@juliegribble (JulieGribble) says:
@shoemoney isn’t it search engine optimization?
@tonychester (Tony Chester) says:
@shoemoney I think of highly relevant content written to appeal to Googlers, in a very keyword rich sort of way.
@jarret (Jarret) says:
@shoemoney Time consuming
@angelashupe (Angel) says:
@shoemoney Search Engine Optimization
@QualityGal (QualityGal) says:
@shoemoney A much better way to pay the bills than I used to have.
@badijones (Badi Jones) says:
@shoemoney I guess you’re looking for responses from non SEOs?
@DominickEvans (DominickEvans) says:
@shoemoney google….getting my site placed on google and/or yahoo through SEO
@marenhogan (marenhogan) says:
@shoemoney that someone misspelled CEO. HA! I slay me. I need to get back to work.
@Tajah (Uhura) says:
@shoemoney drawing a blank myself. Context?
@Pixites (http://www.pixites.c) says:
@shoemoney we’re only in it for ze money
@FeedTheBull (FeedTheBull) says:
@shoemoney Search Engine Optimization???

Post written by Jeremy Schoemaker

Hi I am Jeremy Schoemaker and ShoeMoney.com is my blog. 99% of the post here are done by me but you will see others occasionally make guest posts. This blog is fun to write but for my day job I run several online companies.

More about Jeremy at http://www.shoemoney.com!

Have You Read:

69 Comments. What Say You?

  1. Blogging Tips
    December 18, 2008 at 11:08 pm

    Duh every animal lover knows that SEO really stands for Sexy Ethiopian Otters

  2. CultureMob.com
    September 15, 2008 at 7:33 pm

    At my company I hear that about ten billion times a day. I usually think Google.

  3. Önder
    September 11, 2008 at 5:27 pm

    Every person nearly has different ideas for different situations, things or thinks.

  4. Eva White
    September 11, 2008 at 12:18 am

    necessary evil that gives me headaches.

  5. Cisco Routers
    September 10, 2008 at 11:59 pm

    Doesn’t it stand for Student Employment Office ? :)

  6. Ways To Earn Online
    September 10, 2008 at 1:14 pm

    When I hear SEO, it gives me a headache because it can be stressful if you dont know how to apply it to your blog or website. I am reading other blogs and trying to gather all the information I can to use SEO on my own. But it basically means to me, google pagerank, keyword rich, optimizing your site.

  7. Goran Website
    September 10, 2008 at 4:52 am

    When I hear SEO, I think: keyword research (using good keywords for site and not saturating it with bad/unnecessary keywords), good internal and external linking, clean coding (validted by W3C), good content, and achieving a good page(s) rank.Search Engine Optimization… So much goes into it…Phew!

  8. Everton Football
    September 10, 2008 at 12:38 am

    I think of bounce rate, backlinks, content and rotating my anchor text. How geeky is that?

  9. att
    September 9, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    Some of those answers are hilarious…interesting to see what people think of seo

  10. Greg
    September 9, 2008 at 4:45 pm

    snake oil salesmen

  11. hi
    September 9, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    we are there and followers

  12. carol stanley
    September 9, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    Opps forgot the question..seo.. a new word to make people crazy.

  13. carol stanley
    September 9, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    I think you are one smart dude…I have just started on my internet journey a few months…ago….www.carolstanley1.com..My book For Kids 59.99 and Over…of course I would love to sell a gazillion..but more important I really feel passionately about staying healthy, fit, happy and enjoying the journey along the way…I know you are successfulll and I mostly admire this.because you figured a way…carol stanley

  14. WebTrafficROI
    September 9, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    Get ready for the Google Slap :)

  15. Amanda (DrifterMama)
    September 9, 2008 at 1:13 pm

    how did i miss this on twitter?

  16. Bradley
    September 9, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    lol, seo is simple. it’s all backlinks

  17. Zack - Amer1can Paratrooper
    September 9, 2008 at 8:12 am

    I am learning seo by the mother of all se’s, google. Within my webmasters section in my google account, I get to see errors and and other details as to what google likes or dislikes pertaining to my blog posts. Its important to look at these details to learn, master, and refine your seo skills constantly in order to find your site with good organic placement.

  18. Pushkar Gaikwad
    September 9, 2008 at 6:00 am

    Huh, so Jeremy what do you what does SEO really means ? :)

  19. jack
    September 9, 2008 at 5:02 am

    When I think of SEO I’d like to take a min to think how the search engines changed the face of the internet (and our lives) , twitter? not a big fan , pretty useless web 2.0 website for me ..

  20. Douglas
    September 9, 2008 at 4:34 am

    Search Engine Optimization.

  21. Scott Paterson
    September 9, 2008 at 3:21 am

    SEO = I want to get rich quick, NOT! Make a good product that people want first. Bring something unique to the market. The world doesn’t really need yet another blog.

  22. Stephen
    September 9, 2008 at 2:59 am

    SEO = Senior Executive Officer…lol.

  23. Nick Throlson
    September 9, 2008 at 12:05 am

    SEO = Success

  24. Freeman
    September 8, 2008 at 11:06 pm

    ahahahaha this is priceless! I love some of these responses!! I would love to see more of these in the future!

  25. Anonymous
    September 8, 2008 at 10:28 pm

    Worthless buzzword.

  26. Diet Abs
    September 8, 2008 at 10:13 pm

    When I think about SEO I think about “Sites Enemy Order”. This is because it is now adays almost impossible to rank high.

  27. Rice Blogger
    September 8, 2008 at 9:20 pm

    haha….search engine orgy

  28. mrkbsm
    September 8, 2008 at 9:14 pm

    All the little things that other people DON’T do that let you sneak by to the top.

  29. Ganesh
    September 8, 2008 at 8:39 pm

    Ew! For me, SEO and confusion are synonymous.

  30. Jake@Compounding-Dividends.com
    September 8, 2008 at 8:26 pm

    I always thought it was an acronym

  31. Custom T-Shirts
    September 8, 2008 at 7:36 pm

    When I hear SEO I think money.
    money money money.

  32. Craig
    September 8, 2008 at 7:33 pm

    SEO? Must be a term from those master computer type guys at Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net came up with.

  33. Steven-Sanders
    September 8, 2008 at 7:16 pm

    Those are some pretty hilarious responses! I especially like the Search Engine Orgy response. Never thought of it that way. :)

    There are alot of people out there, though, that will charge a company an arm and a leg to optimize a persons site with the basics just because those companies have no clue. It’s definitely an exploited service.

    I own and operate a web design and development business and I offer free search engine optimization for all of my clients. There is no reason not too.

    If a website is design correctly it should already have search enginge optimization included in it.

  34. Saad
    September 8, 2008 at 7:00 pm

    If you are a website designer with out the knowledge of search engine optimization, then you need to wake up. This is the only sure way through which you can attract thousands of visitors to your website.

  35. Soha Kashif
    September 8, 2008 at 7:00 pm

    It involves the art and process of making your website to rank high in major search engines when a specific word is searched by a potential visitor through a particular search engine like Google, Hotbot, AltaVista, MSN Search.

    • Sohail
      September 9, 2008 at 8:43 am

      Good points :D SEO is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines.

  36. shoeb
    September 8, 2008 at 6:58 pm

    In my opinion, SEO means spamming search engines.

  37. shifka
    September 8, 2008 at 6:56 pm

    very simple question. It is Search Engine Optimization.

  38. jim
    September 8, 2008 at 6:45 pm

    Hahah, good answers…

  39. How I Got A Job In The OC
    September 8, 2008 at 6:42 pm

    A Dummies book

  40. 100kjob
    September 8, 2008 at 6:33 pm

    What a comedy, piss myself laughing – “misspelled CEO”, “viagra”, “a lot of drinking”…

  41. Mike Dammann
    September 8, 2008 at 5:58 pm

    I think about many annoying people trying to sell you worthless links.

  42. Doug Heil
    September 8, 2008 at 5:28 pm

    SEO = Strong Evil Odor

    Gotta admit Shoe; the sphinn stuff had me rolling on the floor, and also made me spit up my most recent sip of juice. Ain’t it funny how your spins can be removed one day, and then the owner spins you the next day? I call that weenie-ism. It’s very transparent and very much a pathetic weenie who just can’t stand someone not liking him.

    I think of odor more and more and why I don’t do strictly seo.

  43. wesley
    September 8, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    Pretty funny :)

  44. AffiliateObsession
    September 8, 2008 at 5:24 pm

    “post replies” i’m an idiot lol – I wanted to see the replies that were interesting, which, in fact, are shown here :)

  45. BigJon
    September 8, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    Silly Executioner Mistakes..?

    • BigJon
      September 8, 2008 at 5:12 pm

      wow.. or even Single Edge Octive…
      ill use an O word this time…

  46. Matt Thompson
    September 8, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    Great poll idea, and a nice way to post the results!

    Regards, Matt

  47. Rekzai
    September 8, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    SEO has a really negative reputation.

  48. Pete W
    September 8, 2008 at 5:05 pm

    Pubcon baby!

    Oh, and making money while I sleep without PPC.

  49. River Girl
    September 8, 2008 at 5:01 pm

    Some of these are hilarious.

  50. Melvin
    September 8, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    I used to think its Search Exec Officer, .. well…

  51. cheap used cars
    September 8, 2008 at 4:50 pm

    hey we actually got shoe talking back he made his own top commentators list!

    • Custom T-Shirts
      September 8, 2008 at 7:37 pm

      Haha, I’m surprised he didn’t put himself as an exception. It should usually be the case that the blogger is the #1 commentator.

  52. cheap used cars
    September 8, 2008 at 4:49 pm

    hilarious.. funny stuff shoe. man i could only imagine what I would ask 5300 followers…

  53. SMM Guru
    September 8, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    @shoemoney SEO is what the masters of the intraweb over on Digital Point study.

  54. JustinM
    September 8, 2008 at 4:38 pm

    Taking mom and pop to the top.

  55. Chris Jacobson
    September 8, 2008 at 4:35 pm

    I didn’t think you’d post my comment… nice! lol

  56. Brian Mark
    September 8, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    Cool… I found a few people to follow in that list. ;)

  57. Nebraska SEO
    September 8, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    I’m sure a lot of these are supposed to be tongue in cheek, but a few responses seem pretty ignorant.

    A lot of negativity…

    • mrkbsm
      September 8, 2008 at 9:23 pm

      Just folks trying to use the topic of SEO to garner controversy (and therefore, attention!)

  58. paisley
    September 8, 2008 at 4:30 pm

    bounce rate.

    • James
      September 9, 2008 at 3:37 am

      Hehe, some pretty funny responses there.

  59. Bryan
    September 8, 2008 at 4:27 pm

    Funny. I don’t think you could have raised any other question that would have gotten more responses.

    • Dick
      September 9, 2008 at 4:37 am

      I met people who do not understand the meaning SEO.

  60. Moneybites
    September 8, 2008 at 4:26 pm

    When I think seo, I think search engine optimization, then I think about how easy it is to implement basic SEO and how many people don’t…

    • meethere
      September 9, 2008 at 7:45 am

      Think SEO – Think Rankings – Think Shoe :p

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