Subscribe
Previous Post
Okay, as promised, I want to kickstart a conversation about Search Engine Optimization.
The big question that keeps popping up is: should you optimize your blog posts or not. My short answer? I couldn’t care less.
If you want to simple open up an honest dialog with your customers about a given topic, without having to worry about making sure your keywords are unobtrusive in your copy, I’m fine with that. In fact, I encourage it. There are easy way to dominate search results anyway.
My bigger concern is, if you DO optimize, what strategy are you using? I’ve seen many blogs that are expertly optimized for the company name and products. They do all the right things: the name in the URL, the name in the header and 1-3% of the body copy, image captions…you name it, they nailed it.
But why?
If my pipes burst in the middle of the night, I’m not going to Google “Joe’s QuickFast PLumbing Service,” I’m typing “24-hour plumber.” If I have a tree trying to die on me, I’m not searching for “Superior Tree Removal, Inc” I’m looking at “dead tree limbs,” or “tree removal, [CITY]”
First off, if your static website has been active for a year or longer, and it’s not in the top 3 results returned for your name or your products, then your first priority is to fix your website.
Second: I defer back to my point in number 3 in the manifesto: No one cares about you. They want the solution to their problems. THAT is what you ought to be optimizing your blog for. And it’s the information you should be giving them there.
Blog SEO is a tool for helping people find you when they need you, not for stroking your own ego. Catch them BEFORE they’ve made the decision of who to call, when they’re still trying to figure out what the heck is going on, and you run a better chance of being the company they choose.
Jose – I’m not saying that SEO is a pointless endeavor. Just that you need to make sure your strategy is sound before you start focusing on optimization.
What you’re optimizing for is MORE important how you’re optimizing. (Who cares where you show up in the results, if no one is searching for those keywords).
And, still, there are easier ways to dominate search results than creating and maintaining a blog.
As nonchalant as I usually am, I still have to say, that if you want to get the visitors, in addition to the usual content, you have to indulge and decipher the secret code of SEO. Links, tags, meta tags, title tags, they all make my head hurt.
I couldn’t agree more with you..lost count of the # of site owners asking me to take them to #1 that have failed to ‘provide value’ to their visitors in their site content. Who cares what your biz name is..its what your services/products will do for me, the customer, i.e. benefits/make my situation easier/more productive.