Common Sense SEO

There has been a fair amount of confusion across the internet about what works in the wake of Google Penguin's changes to search engine optimization and search engine results. I have seen any number of suggested steps to take that promise to reverse the effects of Penguin. For websites that took a serious kick from the update, I am sure that any kind of quick fix looks attractive, but it is probably a bad idea. Because I believe those kind of quick fixes it what prompted the changes in the first place.

I have a lot of respect for the Google model. I think they have the best interest of the searchers in mind, mostly, with a healthy dose of looking out for their own interests mixed in. They are pretty up front about that, so I don't get heartburn when the Google Plus posts show up higher than other items. Like me, Google is in business to make money.

But trying to constantly find ways around the Google algorithm changes will probably land your website in a circular path of constantly having to react to more changes. With somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 changes a year, Google doesn't exactly sit around twiddling thumbs. If you are trying to out-maneuver all of those changes, you are wasting a lot of time.

How much easier to just get in there and provide good content for your customers. Make sure the basics are in place and then just do the same thing over and over. You know, slow and steady wins the race. Basic blocking and tackling. Choose your favorite allegory and run with it, but if you are talking to your customers in a way that makes sense to them, well you should be attracting the right kind of attention.

Need some help with that? Contact me, I will be happy to write, edit or help you develop ideas for your website. 

The power of SEO

There's a great article on searchengineland.com today (http://searchengineland.com/seo-beats-ppc-social-media-for-generating-leads-99064) that indicates marketers are seeing the power of SEO. What's interesting to me is that while marketers who were part of the study said they felt like SEO was producing more leads, they are still planning to expand their spending on social media and SEM. That may be because they are shifting resources from traditional media to online media, but it also may be because it is easier to track and, therefore, justify those expenses. SEO takes a lot of time and it's a continuous process. Running banner ads is a lot less labor-intensive even if it is becoming less and less effective.

I see the cost increases on social media restricting some of that investment in the near future, but that is reflective of the results people are seeing, too.