It's easy for me. As a be-hatted Internet entrepreneur, I can strut my stuff in front of hoards of open-mouthed onlookers as I pour forth my years of well-honed experience in the realm of the 'engine of search' and espouse the benefits of good linking, internal referencing and blogging about dogs with an aplomb and confidence that belies my years and lack of hair.

With a confidence brought on by years of standing in front of the uncaring and unwashed, far too many malt whiskeys and a history of not really understanding when it's a good time to leave the stage (apparently, if you hear the word 'bollox', it's time to go), I can talk for hours on subjects that would strike fear into most.

I actually revel in the thought of explain 'SEO' and how one can make you business do better. I do. I love it. But is it sexy enough to attract people to the job?

I think I should explain here, before the Daily Mail does a 'politician style expenses' expose that I am married and I have a child. I must also admit that I didn't admit my SEO abilities to my wife before we married. I've kept them hidden like Clark Kent. If I was working on some SEO for a client when my wife walked in, I would quickly find some Internet porn so she thought I was just like all the other 'net geeks.

But now I've done a few 'talkies' and I've had to 'come out'. It's a terrible admission but as I pay the mortgage, it's too late for her - she's just got to live with it.

For others, however, it may be a cross they have to bear before they meet a girl, settle down and mate. But can SEO ever really be a career choice? Will it ever be championed on the BBC careers advisory service? Will career's advisers appear at a school with a cheery smile and explain how you can cut a career for yourselves by 'promoting websites within Google'. Sounds pretty unlikely to me.

So, how do you ever become and 'SEO' (notice, I've already got bored of 'engineer')?

The problem with SEO is, it's in the wrong career bucket. So many people see that anything to do with IT or the Internet should only be performed by those who find solace in World of War-craft and it's ilk.

SEO isn't about computers. It's not about IT. It's nothing to do with my ability to program, no, it's about marketing. Full stop. It's just another type of marketing and so SEO should be taught alongside marketing.

Business drives marketing and marketing should drive business, therefore SEO is a skill that should sit along all those other business skills, but will it ever?

A straw poll

This is unscientific at the moment, although one day I might take the plunge and do a bigger survey, but just for a 'giggle' I asked a few teachers in business schools how they taught 'Search Engine Optimisation'. Here's what I got:

First off, six teachers said "What's search engine optimisation?", not a great start. I only asked eight, so it didn't leave me much to go on, but of the two left, I got these:

Roger, Business Skills and economics

"We teach about how to use Google in our IT class. As search engines pick the sites they want to display at random, we really don't think it's worth going into too much detail"

Ouch.

Vanessa, Business studies lecturer

"Yes, we do teach a little bit about SEO, but not too much as it really doesn't have a lot to do with business".

You can't make this stuff up, can you?

Of course not. In days gone by there was nobody teaching good IT skills and I doubt there aren't any now. I've never learned marketing at school or Uni but I seriously doubt any-one's really switched on to it.

As with most skills, you learn the really good stuff out in the wild- at your work placements etc, so maybe schools should really just concentrate on the basics and leave the good stuff to the businesses that live or die based on their knowledge?