Just as in any other industry out there, there are quite a number of people doing Search Engine Optimization (SEO). How do you wade through the huge number of individuals, companies and techniques? Is SEO just an extra last minute marketing effort you employ or is it woven into your business? Is it a trick or a technique?
My View on SEO and Online Marketing
I believe SEO goes beyond just optimizing a Website for search engines. SEO means optimizing a Website for users and search engines. Search engines want to help people find what they need. Just like there was Web 2.0 and then people discuss Web 3.0 and so on, there are many evolutions of SEO I read about. I prefer to keep everything under either an umbrella of Online Marketing or SEO depending on the item.
It is important to have search engines find all types of media and content on your Website. it is important to code things well, add new functionality for users and use keyword strategy. But, these items are not just for search engines as much as they are also for users.
SEO Perspective
I have been working with SEO for more than 10 years. There are so many techniques I have learned that form my foundation of knowledge / perspective. There are a huge number of websites, RSS feeds and email newsletters I track. Sometimes there are new items of value. Some items are evolved over time. Most times things are just currently existing items discussed again and again. many items that I enjoy are articles where a marketer wants to get attention by making a jarring statement.
New Evolution Announcements
The items I find the most interesting are those where a new item is announced, many people jump on it as if it will change everything, and quite a lot of new start-up Websites pop up. Social Media Optimization (SMO) and what I call SB (Social Bookmarking) are two examples. There are many of these sites of value to consider. Over time I have built many master lists testing over a thousand of these. As exciting as they sound and can be pumped up to be, they can be a component but not a focus of a marketing program. So many of these sites that I tracked in recent years are now gone with new sites in the same and other categories replacing them.
One Small Example of Evolution: Master Submission Lists
In fact, if you were to look at any of my personal master lists of favorite search engines, directories and many other categories of Websites today vs. what they looked like six months ago, there would be more different than in common. A book I buy today, or list of Websites I build today, may be relevant for 1-3 months. But for sure, in that time the Internet has again evolved and new sites have risen up in importance.
My Summary / View of the Online Marketing Process
The process is what makes online marketing so much fun. It is important to understand coding, online techniques, usability, user behavior, design, analytics, technologies, CMS’s, platforms, tools, SEO/SEM and the landscape of what has happened, is happening and will probably happen next on the Internet. My perspective is that after building a well rounded perspective of how Websites and marketing work, there is not one magic technique to market a Website to the top of search engines. To do this it takes understanding, consistent effort, purpose to do this, Website evolutions and giving users what you know they want.
