The original title of this post was “Does SEO Still Matter?” but, as you can see, I changed that prior to posting.
Here’s the problem with the original title: A headline like that can be read in two different ways. Some people will look at it and click right through wondering what the answer will be. Others will make the decision that we’re leading with the answer, decide, “No, it doesn’t,” and move on. Still others will look at it and say, “Really? Is this guy insane? I spend ten grand a month on optimization across all my sites and he wants to know, ‘does it still matter?’ Of course it matters.”
So, does it matter?
Now’s the time when you’re thinking I’m going to hit you with one of my famous, “it depends” scenarios, right? Wrong.
Running the risk of you stopping reading right here, I’m just going to tell you straight: SEO definitely still matters. Today’s marketers understand, however, that it’s only part of the recipe. It’s a big part, but it’s only one part.
The Framework for Optimized Content
Great content has a number of elements, and I want to give you a thumbnail sketch of each right now:
Quality Content – This should really be a no-brainer, but you would be amazed at how many times our copywriting company has gotten orders from clients that demand over-seeding with keywords that often don’t mesh organically with the copy. When you try to explain it the answer is always the same: “That’s fine. We’re just posting this for SEO purposes. Just make it readable.”
Let me tell you something that will save you a lot of time and aggravation: That attitude is the kiss of death. Betting all your chips on SEO will make you go bust in a hurry. The content has to be good. It has to be relevant. Is has to be more than just “readable.”
Smart Presentation – Your page layouts need to hold the attention of your site visitors. A page that is inundated with ads and fails to direct attention to the content will not be profitable. Once you get people to your site, they need a reason to stay.
Sharable Content – Social media buttons and clear calls to action to share your content coupled with quality and presentation will help you generate more visits.
Paid Traffic – Most people making money in marketing right now will tell you that there’s no way around this if you want to optimize your reach and develop a big audience quickly. CPC gives you this ability. It helps you earn in the short term.
SEO – Note how far down on the list this is, but also note that it’s here. SEO is a long-term goal. It can take time to develop good rankings, and marketers who rely solely on SEO for this often find that it gets too expensive and they eventually give up. Think in terms of months or years when dealing with SEO. Paid traffic can net you more page visits and profits the same day.
So Why Does SEO Still Matter?
It’s a good question. If it’s going to take months or more to start getting organic traffic, why still bother with it? The answer to that question is simple: It is far more sustainable than anything else is. It takes time to get there, but you will find that your spend on ads decreases over time. Once you start getting good rankings, organic traffic and paid traffic will start to balance out. The scales may even begin to tip in the favor of organic traffic if your content is truly optimized.
I’m going to go into greater detail on this next point in an upcoming post, but I want to lay a bit of a foundation here and just give you a brief checklist of things you should be mindful of when developing a successful SEO strategy.
1. Build a good website. The search engines look for a number of things about your site. Specifically, they look at these four things:
• The content itself, first and foremost.
• Site performance
• Authority in the subject matter on your site.
• User experience
That last one is the result of crunching all the data from the other three points. So, before we’ve even started talking about things like keywords, we have a few other things to think about. Great content on a sluggish site won’t ever help the site rank. All these things form a symbiont circle that determines the worth of your SEO efforts.
2. Know what the search engines want and what they don’t. The wants are listed above. The don’ts include things like:
• Overuse of keywords (under 2% is still optimal).
• Purchased backlinks (sorry, but the search engines know the difference between real and fake ones).
• Other black hat tactics (and believe me, there are plenty).
3. Optimize for social media and for a variety of results. SEO tactics change based on what you want to accomplish. Do you want to increase conversions on a landing page? Do you just want to get people onto your site? Do you want them to be directed to specific pieces of content?
4. Make consistent use of your domain names. The search engines do still read yourdomain.com differently than www.yourdomain.com.
5. Make good use of meta data.
Keep these things in mind, and also keep an eye on this space. I’ll be getting more into this stuff shortly.