SEO is a phrase that was very quickly invented at the outset of Web Based Search Engines. Once the search engines started, it didn’t take long for web developers and online marketing experts to figure out that they could manipulate the results. This was very clever and helped a lot of web sites get to the first page or top slot on one of the many search engines.
When we are talking about the early days of SEO, we are referring to the top Five search engines of 20 years ago (Yahoo!, Magellan, Lycos, Infoseek, and Excite) 20 years is a long time in the world of the internet and lots has changed, but we still refer to SEO. SEO has gone through quite a radical shift since then and for a lot of that time SEO has been seen as a curse, an object of frustration, sometimes an expensive experiment and lately, somewhat futile.
Many clever techniques have come and gone. Most things that used to work, do not work any longer. Many $$$ spent on SEO are no longer reaping any benefits.
The Moose considers itself an expert in Small Business SEO, or at least extremely knowledgeable. Notice that I refer to Small Business SEO, it is quite important to distinguish between Mass Market SEO or Corporate SEO. What we are talking about is getting your Small Business found by your customers so that you can make a profit.
So, why is SEO dead? SEO is dead because for most Small Businesses, there isn’t a quick/easy/get-rich-quick way to manipulate the search engines. Every clever trick that you could employ to try and manipulate your ranking will very quickly be discovered and avoided by the search engines. Some practices can even get you banned or relegated to the dungeon of Search Engines.
SEO: Our advice… Don’t do SEO, optimize your site for the way that your customers use search engines.
We do not advise our customers on SEO. We build websites that do SEO for you and we train you on how to create the content that your customers are looking for.
What can you do to optimize your website for the search engines?
- Research Your Market – Understand Their Questions
- Create Optimized Landing Pages – Make Specific Content for Specific Customers
- Re-Use Content – Blog Post, Landing Page, e-Mail, Pages, Forums
- Update Existing Content Regularly
- Never Leave Anything Blank – Everything has Value
- Avoid Keywords – Write Sentences with Keywords in Them
Each one of these points opens up a whole conversation by itself. The first thing to do is to get yourself a website that allows you to do this, helps you do this, and allows you to measure the success.
That is what we do – We build automated websites for Small Business that help you find customers and make Profit.
If you are confused about SEO and need help getting your Small Business heard, then please contact us.