Being a web developer for awhile, I've grown a huge distrust in SEO gurus etc. Most of what they say is just hearsay that no one can really prove. And at this point, I would take a lot of pride in calling them out on their deprecated b/s. :D
Does anyone know a source of solid SEO information I can find?
I recommend the information Google provides about SEO as a starting point:
Search Engine Optimization (includes tips on evaluating a SEO "guru"): http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291
SEO getting started guide (PDF): http://static.googleusercontent.com/external_content/untrusted_dlcp/www.google.com/en/us/webmasters/docs/search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf
In my experience working with reputable SEO experts, a lot of the recommendations turned out to be just plain common-sense. For example, a URL like www.example.com/2007/01/SamplePage.htm is more search engine friendly than www.example.com/?id=3657. Or, another example: Google doesn't use "keywords" meta data, so any extra effort expended by Marketing departments to populate that data may be wasted.
A "huckster" might try to recommend something like creating multiple landing pages with similar content to boost search rankings, or automatically swap page content for SEO optimized text when a search engine crawler visits. Suggestions like these should raise red flags (big time).
A good rule of thumb when dealing with vendors (SEO or otherwise) of any persuasion is that if it sounds like they're selling snake oil, they probably are.