Is SEO the most important thing in the world?

[Sunfrog]

Is SEO the most important thing in the whole world?

[boron]

I prefer UFO.
User Friendly Optimization. SEO can be part of UFO. It is user friendly if you find a good site on a #1 in Google.

Well, Sunfrog, now it's your turn to answer your own question.

[Submerge]

Nope, eating is the most important :)

But on the Internet for webmasters? No.

Friendly design is number one, if you can't have a design that suits the visitors needs, you wont see them surfing on your website. For traffic, I'd say yes. If you can get on the front page of a popular search term, your pretty well set.

But the user friendly design will keep them coming back. Direct address is my number one referral account for 4/5 of my traffic. 1/5 of my traffic is from search engine for a decent term.

[Arthur07]

I agree submerge, eating comes first :).

Content is more important and probably design. Even if you have a website which is loved by search engines, if its content is awful folk will just leave.

[jhnrang]

If someone is serious about his/her websites and plan to earn some money then --YES -- SEO is the most important thing in the WWW. Then comes design, layout etc.

But if someone has websites just for hobby --and for himself --and does not care if others have any interest in his/her site --then NO--to hell with SEO:D

[affiliate7]

For internet business owner seo is one the most important thing.
seo not just seo techniques it is all in one, content, design, seo techniques to get your web site in the top, web site conversion ratio,....
there are many other things are important according to some studies seo is the first thing for online business owner, second : pay per click then email marketing, then...
there are a case study at marketingsherpa.com where you can learn more details.

[webslinger]

I find breathing very important. Eating and Drinking are right up there too. SEO is about 436 places down on my important stuff list.

That said work is fairly high on the list and that occasionally involves SEO (sighs).

[sacredhoops]

Just like everything else and in live. Balance is a major key and role. So while you webpages should have some basic SEO done, there should also be major balance through your complete business plan and webpages.

[trigatch4]

Asking "is SEO most important" means you're completely missing the big picture. Every little thing counts but no little thing is everything. All these things like design, seo, links, content, social networks, etc... are all tiny snowflakes that will eventually snowball and gain momentum.

It's SYNERGY. The combination of multiple things is greater than the sum of their individual parts. THAT is what web development is all about.

[ebittner]

I am going to have to say that is you have a site that is looking for sales, yes it is. It is one of the best ways to bring users to your site that are actually interested in seeing the site and possibly buying something from you.

[Trusttec]

Its not the most important thing in the world but its a good way to get your site to rank higher then your compeitors

[profitline]

Its just a good way to optimize your site, thats all because with good ranking on search engine, you get more organic traffic.