I was recently asked why the wealth of SEO information and How-Tos on the web don't just level the marketplace and make it common knowledge how to get top positions for your keyword searches on google, and therefore impossible to compete as a professional Search Engine Optimizer. The following is my arguement for why that is not true. Keep in mind it was written in a mailing list scenario--so just extrapolate the key points, which truly are helpful and straight to the point for newbies to SEO.