Have you ever come across websites that offer to sell you an e-book or VIP access to sections of a site which will teach you the “SECRET FORMULA” of SEO?

I just had an email land in my inbox saying “How to rank #1 in Google using the SAME *secret formula* we’ve used to beat out 294 MILLION competitors”.

As an experienced SEO, I know there is no such thing as a *secret formula”.

I was very fortunate enough to be able to learn my skill by sitting at my desk at work, reading articles, reading and participating in forums, reading newsletters and keeping up with the websites from credible people in the SEO world.

I was then able to apply what I learnt on our companies websites – this is how I learnt to successfully apply SEO and gain good results in the search engines.

I didn’t go and buy e-books, sign up to ’special area’s’ in websites, etc, everything I learned came from that big free resource of information called “The Internet”.

It’s true that it does take a lot of time and determination to master SEO, and the information you learn is valuable and can make all the difference in a successful online business, but it certainly isn’t a “secret”.

It kind of annoys me that people try to deceive those who are not in the know into believing there is a ’secret formula’ to search engine optimisation.

The only people who do know the “secret formula” are the engineers who create the algorithms to gather date, interpret the data and determine it’s relevance, and it’s a sure fact that they are not going to tell us, and they are especially not going to go and sell that information on.

So if you are looking to learn about SEO, don’t buy into these websites who will claim that they can sell you the “secret formula” to get you to #1 in Google.

Learn all you can from the free resources available on the net and participate in forums. I am an Administrator at WebWorkshop SEO Forum, and you are welcome to come and ask me, or any other members of that site questions you have regarding SEO, and guess what, it’s free!