SEO is mostly a Red Heron.  Lies and Blue Sky are tossed around.
SEO, in definition, is Optimization for a better read by search engine bots.

SEO Marketing is totally contradictory in it’s language.  If they stated Web Marketing, or Search Engine Submission, I would be silent on this, but SEO Marketing? Come on!

The fact is your code should be as clean as possible.  Additionally, items in the code like Title, Meta Data, and even Alt Tags may aid, but generally have no effect on ranking.

There are three cornerstones in good ranking and search engine penetration.

1.) Content – Quality, Unique, Pertinent Content
2.) Changes – Regular Updates or Additions to Content on Pages keep Search Bots coming back to crawl and consider your content as even more valuable
3.) Links – Not thousands, but Specific, Quality, Unique, Pertinent

Don’t fall for the $5,000/month SEO deal.
Don’t fall for the $19.95 for 5,000 backlinks.

Online marketing costs and can run over $50,000 to be done right.
Be smart and don’t fall for the Blue Sky or Red Heron.