Just say no to SEO
Jerry L. Kennedy | TLT Social Media Marketing April 2014
Customer service, not keyword stuffing, is the key to a successful online marketing strategy.
IF YOUR BUSINESS has any sort of online presence (and sometimes even if it doesn’t), you probably receive anywhere from one or two to a dozen or more emails a week offering to help you with SEO—search engine optimization. Many of these emails are probably siphoned off by your spam filter, but a few invariably get through. You’ll notice a common theme, as the messages usually indicate that for anywhere from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars a month, the vendor will make sure you get to the front page of Google’s search results.
But buyer beware. More often than not such solicitations are an effort to separate you from your money in exchange for something that will have limited, if any, positive impact on your business. In fact, ultimately these services can do lasting harm to your online marketing efforts.
What is SEO and why should you take such promises with more than a few grains of salt?
SEO is well defined by Google’s Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide (click
here). It is the practice of “making small modifications to parts of your Website that could have a noticeable impact on your site’s user experience and performance in organic search results.” Sounds helpful, right? When practiced correctly, it is. The problem is that many SEO practitioners focus almost entirely on factors that, while they may be of some limited importance to search engines, give zero consideration to the folks who really matter: your clients and prospects. Ironically, shifting the focus of your content to your clients is more important in the long run than any amount of so-called optimization you could do. Why?
When I talk to groups about online marketing, one of my favorite questions to ask is, “What is Google’s most important job?” Some will say selling advertising or making money, but Google couldn’t do either of those things as effectively as it does without being the best in the world at one thing: answering questions. In fact, Google is so good at answering questions that its name has become synonymous with looking something up online. When’s the last time you heard someone say, “I’m going to Bing that?”
The best way to get the attention of Google’s search algorithm and improve your position in search results is to help Google accomplish its most important function. In other words, provide helpful answers to your clients’ questions and you will begin to rise to the top of the search pile. More than anything else, this is the key to successful online marketing.
Of course, as with any endeavor, there are best practices to follow. Rather than hire an SEO firm whose interest in serving itself may override any interest in helping you serve your customers, why not go straight to the source? The SEO Starter Guide is an invaluable resource in developing and maintaining SEO best practices. The best advice in the guide, though, is this: “You should base your optimization decisions first and foremost on what’s best for the visitors of your site.” Right now, you might be asking yourself, “How can I do that?”
It’s quite simple. Rather than providing pointless, keyword-stuffed drivel, provide your users with content that will actually answer their questions and help them solve problems. If you do, you’ll not only see better search engine results, you’ll come to be a valuable resource to your clients and prospects and will gain the kind of top of mind awareness that leads to increased sales.
Jerry Kennedy earned his stripes as an operations and sales manager in the lubricants industry. He is currently the co-founder of CDK Creative, a digital marketing agency that brings his real-world sales and operations experience to the world of online marketing. Learn more or request a consultation at http://cdkcreative.com.
Email him at jerry@jerrykennedy.com.