Does SEO Have a Bad Reputation?
In today’s ClickZ article, “Chicken Soup for the SEO Soul,” P.J. Fusco talks about how SEO critics have lambasted the SEO industry.
Fusco says this is partly the fault of the SEO industry itself — the reasons being that SEO firms can’t publish results data because clients won’t allow it. Hence, SEO practices aren’t “transparent.”
(I asked Bob Bly in a separate email if he’s run into this problem with regard to direct mail, and he said he has one client who won’t let him post results. However, the DM industry has years of case studies and best practices – and for the most part, is “transparent.”)
This lack of transparency for the SEO industry, however, means that people don’t understand ethical SEO, how it works, and why it’s important to a company’s marketing strategies.
I’m currently testing the effectiveness of SEO on my own site. I’ve been getting under the hood of Google Analytics in order to determine why people take action on one part of the site or landing page but not another. The data — what little of it I have at the moment — is fascinating.
My question: if I take this data and use it to manipulate the copy on the page in order to increase search engine rankings, does that make me someone who is peddling SEO snakeoil?
Why is it ok to “manipulate” copy for a direct mail letter in order to increase conversions but it’s not ok to “manipulate” Web content so that it ranks well in the search engines (and thus drives more targeted traffic to the page and increases conversions)?
February 14th, 2008 at 4:02 am
I think seo doesn’t have a bad name it is more of scary one. Seo is intimidating plain and simple. I have been relying on to make sure that I make the most out of every visitor by presenting an optimized site – optimized for conversion that is! I use articl marketing to get the visitors. I will visit seo some day but for today it is just too much
February 14th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Sarah, SEO isn’t scary, that is the thing. It’s pretty straight-forward.
February 14th, 2008 at 11:20 am
I agree. Content is King! Just ask Google!
February 14th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
In my view, the SEO industry has mystified SEO intentionally. Just like the networking industry did with their specialized knowledge back in the late 80s/early 90s…re-engineering consultants did in the mid 90s…and and web developers did around that same time.
Why? Because if it’s mysterious and esoteric, businesses will outsource this function…and pay dearly for it. They just don’t want to mess with something that specialized.
But that strategy is obviously starting to backfire on the SEO industry.
Fact is, like Dianna has said, SEO is actually fairly straightforward. Main thing is, you have to get in your prospects’ shoes. You have to think like they do, think about what they would search for. The rest is not as hard as many think.
Like another post suggested, “It’s the content, stupid!”
February 14th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Platforms, such as WordPress, and tools, such as Google Analytics, have really leveled the playing field in SEO. Now, with a little work, the common person can do what use to take $Ks in fees to SEO “experts”. In fact, we are transitioning our corporate web site to WordPress, so we can constantly add and change content (the key to keeping high on search pages) without having a web developer in the middle.
Great post.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:17 pm
Jeff, I agree with you. Google Analytics has made my life much easier — as have other low-cost SEO tools.
I also think part of the problem is that there is too much mis-information out there and people get overwhelmed by it all.
Ed — yes, you hit it. It’s about being in your prospects’ shoes.
February 14th, 2008 at 6:47 pm
SEO is only misunderstood because few take the time to understand the fundamentals. Their is a lot of misinformation out there. But, there is also a lot of good information out there. Try reading Google’s Webmaster Guidelines for a start… it’s all laid out.
It’s like any profession: invest time and energy into on-going education and reap the benefits.
Those who use strategies eliminated by a search engine update or rely on positioning software will fail.
The benefit of an SEO consultant? All of the results with none of the time wasted experimenting, reading, attending seminars.
Consultants are a great option for those who wish to spend their time on other things important to their business.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
First of all I believe that it is perfectly alright to optimize a page or a site for the search engines. You are right, it is no different than working on a sales page to make it convert at the highest rate possible.
I think I have a rudimentary handle on SEO, the usual stuff, title, meta tags, alt text, keywords in headlines and keywords in the body.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:02 pm
Rob — Agreed. Google Webmaster Guidelines are excellent.
hssiegel — I edited your post because I’m tired of people posting here in order to promote another guy’s products.
And, to be transparent, I’ve also been deleting out right promotional posts for this guy.
February 16th, 2008 at 8:19 am
First, Dianna
Let me appologize for mentioning someones products. Sorry if I offended, won’t happen again.
I guess my question is, how much does SEO really mean anymore?
With all the discussions on getting inbound links being the most important thing and with all the social bookmarking, getting listed on the right sites etc. How much doe SEO really affect a search ranking now?
February 16th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
hssiegel — SEO is more than top rankings at a search engine. As Any hack can get a site “top rankings” for keywords. That’s easy enough. What you want is content that “converts” — whatever conversion means to you — sales, emails, calls, newsletter sign ups, downloads, etc. If a site’s content sucks, no amount of in-bound links is to going help conversion rate.
Good SEO incorporates all these things: top rankings, in-bound links and great content. Good SEO increases leads and sales.
July 2nd, 2008 at 2:41 pm
hey
Really nice tips!
will try to keep it in my mind
thanks!