The first time I used a computer to share or spread a message I was utterly unaware of the things that went to produce the results I saw. Now that I understand technologies and marketing better I can share what I know about computers and building business with others. As an SEO my main mission is to get rankings, traffic and improve web-generated business.

But I've never forgotten that I have other skills. It's not an ego trip, it's altruistic- the more you know the more you can share, and therefore the better you can make the experience for everyone. This means that you can help others gain confidence, and then they can then go on to share their knowledge around.

What has this got to do with SEO? you may ask. Well, if you only work to a tight SEO remit, not much. But I look at my job as more than just SEO. My job centres on SEO, but it is just as much about giving stuff away. It's kind of open source.

For example, if a client pings me a query about not being able to post to their blogger-hosted company blog I'll dig out the cause (Blogger've just changed their IPs BTW so the firewall rulesets needed tweaking to allow the new IP for ftp).

If a client gets a link request from someone with a .org email address, for a .org tld site, I'll explain why the 301 to the .com link farm website is significant, and why they should probably be given a wide berth (who are the people in your link neighbourhood?)

If a client's developer has offered a possibly long-winded fix to something that could be achieved quicker I'll approach the developer and offer guidance- if they want it, going through the pros and cons without bias.

And I'm not alone.
My colleagues do it too.
My clients do it with me, and so do my industry peers.

A good search engine marketing provider is not just good at SEO, they are the sum of their colleagues', peers' and clients' knowledge. And they should share. Sharing IS caring.