While many SEO software tools do eventually get their users running afoul of the SEs,one should not generalise too much. First off as SEO is such a wide and growing subject area, different tools do different things, and I do not know of a single program or service that is all-encompassing. For instance, how would "Goodkeywords" run the user afoul of the search engines?
What the SEs are trying to do is to produce search results that are as representative of "high relevance" as possible. What they seek to penalise are the techniques and practices that get such high ranking for sites that don't deserve them. However, for as long as the process of generating SERPs remains largely automated and therefore objective, people will use the parameters, used by the SEs to produce their rankings, to their own advantage. The problem is not using the software, rather, SE algorithms becoming common knowledge and therefore manipulable. Unless the SEs were willing to go to the expense of hiring human SERP validators, this will be a continuing story penalisisng the innocent along with the guilty.
On the contrary there are SEO software programs that do gain their users traffic they would not otherwise get, SE algorithm changes or not. One such is SEO Elite 3.2 - the reciprocal link exchange management tool. Even if your efforts while using this software are not directly rewarded with immediately improved page rank, you will get significantly more targetted traffic from the reciprocal link exchange strategy it helps you execute. A strategy it is worth noting that will not run afoul of the SEs because it is all about off-page optimization, about which you can read more here: http://seoelite.mywebhut.com/optin.htm
What the SEs are trying to do is to produce search results that are as representative of "high relevance" as possible. What they seek to penalise are the techniques and practices that get such high ranking for sites that don't deserve them. However, for as long as the process of generating SERPs remains largely automated and therefore objective, people will use the parameters, used by the SEs to produce their rankings, to their own advantage. The problem is not using the software, rather, SE algorithms becoming common knowledge and therefore manipulable. Unless the SEs were willing to go to the expense of hiring human SERP validators, this will be a continuing story penalisisng the innocent along with the guilty.
On the contrary there are SEO software programs that do gain their users traffic they would not otherwise get, SE algorithm changes or not. One such is SEO Elite 3.2 - the reciprocal link exchange management tool. Even if your efforts while using this software are not directly rewarded with immediately improved page rank, you will get significantly more targetted traffic from the reciprocal link exchange strategy it helps you execute. A strategy it is worth noting that will not run afoul of the SEs because it is all about off-page optimization, about which you can read more here: http://seoelite.mywebhut.com/optin.htm