By Rhett Soveran
First, let’s get the (confusing) terms straight. Search Engine Optimization is “SEO.” The people who do SEO for a living are Search Engine Optimizers “SEOs”.
Last December I wrote a piece for Unlimited titled “SEO Will Not Save Your Company” and I’m not sure that I was correct. I think, perhaps, I was hoping for a Christmas miracle and SEO would die a horrible death and we’d never have to talk about it again. That didn’t happen and SEO is unfortunately still important. I got caught up in the hype of social search. So, I’m back to correct my mistake and give you the lowdown on SEO and SEOs.
But how important it is depends on what your goals are and the options you have. At the very least, you should be doing the basics.
Basic SEO
Basic search engine optimization is the low-hanging fruit on your site. It’s fairly easy and it will likely give you some constant traffic. It’s not going to get you rich quick, but it sets a good foundation for traffic development.
SEO is the act of making your site readable and then indexable by Google (or other search engines, as if there were any).
Making a site readable by a search engine is relatively easy. Use lots of text. Don’t use Flash. Don’t put text in an image. Here’s a small checklist:
- Meta description tag: Every page should have a unique description. The meta keyword tag is basically dead, but descriptions will help Google.
- Title tag: After the meta tag, this is going to be the first stop for a search engine to understand what’s on the page. There is no space to be clever here. Use descriptive keywords.
- Header tags: Every page should start with an H1 tag. If you have subheads, they should be H2 and so on. H3s inform H2s which in turn support the H1. It’s all hierarchical. Search engines place higher importance on header tags. Use keywords here.
- Anchor tags: Don’t just link a URL “http://www.unlimitedmagazine.com”. Link “Read unlimited magazine for business advice.” Stuff a few keywords in there. That way search engines equate the words in the link with the link itself. Google places higher value on linked text (and that value is split by the amount of links on a page, so only link when you need to).
- Content is king: Sometimes clichés are best because they are correct. Great content will always get you further ahead. Google’s search algorithm is so good it can tell the difference between good and bad English (or whichever language). Only use competent writers.
Category: Articles, Editor's Pick
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Hey Rhett,
You’re right to rail against SEO’s that don’t act professionally, or use Black Hat techniques. They give the field a bad name.
While it’s unfortunate that they exist, their bad behavior actually provides an opportunity for those of us who practice White Hat SEO, much of which you described. My clients appreciate my honesty and diligence, which is in contrast to the scam artists.
Many of us that practice White Hat SEO techniques came to the profession from web development when realized that doing the basics can lead to better results in search engines. You understand this; you’ve chosen a good, SEO optimized Wordpress theme framework for your own blog. Thematic.
I’d add that there is more to the basics than the on page and off page SEO you outline. Laying a good technical foundation is important as well, including proper use of robots.txt and sitemap.xml files, redirecting domain.com to http://www.domain.com or vice versa, but not both, making sure the dev team doesn’t go overboard on javascript, flash, etc.
As I send my clients on their way so that they continue building back links and optimizing on keywords, doing so becomes a natural part of their workflow. Like gardening, a little bit each weeks pays off dividends in the long run.
Joel Greenberg
http://www.straightshooterseo.com
An Austin, TX SEO
Thanks Joel. You make excellent points on the tech side. I’m a writer by trade and while I know about the tech stuff (and use stable framework, robots, xml sitemap, etc), I wouldn’t be comfortable enough to actually write about it. Plus, this article would’ve gone on far too long. ;)
I’m wouldn’t consider myself an SEO (not enough patience), but have done it enough to at least get myself and others started. And I have worked with (or sat through presentations from) SEOs that I can sniff out the good and the bad ones you described.
The best way to deal with greasy SEO’s is to find out what entails SEO. This article does a great job providing this information.
Walking into a meeting informed goes a long way in setting the expectation and you will more than likely get the desired results.
Articles like this are excellent for business owners because they point out how thorny the industry really is. It’s exceedingly difficult for most people to judge quality of SEO work and most don’t realize the order of magnitude that it can vary.
Transparency, client references, and case studies are all fairly reliable quality indicators to help separate the wheat from the chaff. Make sure to ask any client reference, “Was there an impact to your business?” and “how did you measure it?” A client who has worked with a good SEO should have empirical proof that the work done had a measurable return.
[...] I just had an article published in Edmonton’s Unlimited Magazine. Check out my take on How to Deal With Greasy Search Engine Optimizers. Note to any SEOs in the audience that the editor wrote that title not me [...]