What Should You Expect From SEO?
By Anna Johnson on December 20th, 2008Jill Whalen recently published a good article in her High Rankings newsletter about what kind of search engine optimization (SEO) efforts are realistic. Interestingly, what she wrote was based on an article she published in 2005. Ironic, since although so much has changed in SEO… some core principles NEVER change.
Here are some of the concepts Jill Whalen articulated which I think deserve special mention:
- Websites that are a few years old have an advantage. Most SEO experts agree that all things being equal, the search engines will rank older sites higher than newer ones. Similarly, if you’ve just registered a new domain name, don’t get too hung up over your initial SEO results. As Jill Whalen says, this is a big reason why SEO is a long-term proposition.
- We should focus less on rankings and more on targeted traffic. Not only is achieving a high ranking for highly competitive search phrases rather difficult… it shouldn’t really be your goal. The idea is NOT a high listing… it’s to get the maximum amount of traffic that converts into customers. Especially if you have a ‘young’ website in a competitive niche, you’re better off hiring an SEO consultant to help you cost-effectively bring the most qualified traffic to your site… not hand them a list of keywords you want to be on the first page of Google for!
- Lots of content doesn’t mean high search engine rankings. The search engines – like your website visitors – favor good content. Good content, in turn, is not rubbish you can automatically generate on your site with the press of a button. Nor is it poorly written, boring, long-winded or self-serving. Jill says it best. Good content is about:
“making your site the best it can be for your site visitors AND the search engines. It’s what brings targeted traffic to our own site for thousands of phrases, and it’s what will help your site gain traffic for whatever phrases relate to it. But it’s not easy, and it’s not fast. And it can’t be done with the flick of a switch.”
- Beware of SEO companies (or any kind of service providers) that tell you what you want to hear. Jill Whalen says there are plenty of SEO companies that will ‘happily take your money, do some work, and promptly get no results.’ I would add that before you go looking for an SEO firm to get you a high ranking, you work out what problem you really need to solve.
A few weeks ago I talked with a client who wanted us to help them with their Internet marketing. But the more we talked about their business, the more it became apparent that their main target market was not on the Internet. The best way to attract and convert their particular customers was NOT through Internet marketing but through various off-line methods.
But I wonder how many other service providers are willing to turn away business in the best interests of their clients or prospects? And I wonder how many companies only listen when someone tells them what they want to hear e.g. that all their problems will be solved with SEO…
Source: Jill Whalen, “Setting Realistic SEO Expectations,” High Rankings Advisor 246, December 17, 2008
