One Step Search Engine Optimization
As SEO has become more ‘trendy’, more companies that have a ‘tech’ background have thrown their hat in the ring to offer search engine optimization services to their clients. They treat it just a retail store up-selling your purchase with a benefit added product. The problem is, SEO isn’t an up-sell to simply having one more of their products – SEO is an essential component to ensure your online success.
Most website design, IT, marketing directories and web hosting/domain name companies are starting to offer SEO to their clients as a value-added service at a relatively minimal cost. Some offer a monthly service (which is a start…) but a large number of them offer a ‘one time’ search engine optimization fee. This sounds like a great thing – $250, $400, $750 as a one time cost and your optimization is done. What a deal!
Well it would be if that was the way SEO worked.
Proper and ethical search engine optimization packages require a consistent approach and one that fits your needs and budget. There is no magic switch that can be thrown once to ensure you get to or stay at the top of page one in a Google or Bing search result. Yes there are elements that can be done once (if your business focus, product, service, messaging, etc. never changes), but…
- Are they done right?
- Do they follow the latest Google or Bing algorithm changes?
- Were they properly researched?
- Were the results ever reviewed and altered to ensure maximum effectiveness?
- Is the entire website targeted or just the homepage?
- Have all the required elements of SEO been satisfied? (read the link to see for yourself whether or not all of these elements could even be done as a one time event)
- Does it take into consideration a variety of search engines, geo-targeting, current online marketing initiatives?
- How will they prove it worked on an on-going basis?
- Simply put, ask yourself, is it too good to be true?
Those of us in the SEO industry have a difficult enough time staying on top of the ‘science’ of search engine optimization let alone being able to do it as a one-time shot. A number of months ago I ran into a client that felt that their website would only need a small tweaking in order to be at the top of page one. They made mention of a few SEO website architecture elements that their website designer did for them when they did their last redesign. One of them was (at a charge of $400!!) that they ‘researched’ 250 keywords/phrases to included in the meta keyword of their website pages. What is the issue with that? Well…
- No search engine has ever read that many keywords… ever
- They did insert them on every page, BUT, it was the same list on each page
- How could they have been properly researched?
- How could a webpage be about 200+ things/themes/variations?
- The text on the page didn’t necessarily reflect the meta keywords
- And the topper… Google (the world’s most used search engine) hasn’t used meta keywords as a ranking factor for 2+ years now!!
Yes, there are some elements of search engine optimization that can be done once and left alone for extended periods of time, but since the ‘rules’ of SEO are in a constant state of flux, there is no way to set and forget. Besides, if you could, the ideal way to approach things would be to let your competition do SEO once, then you go right in behind them and do it once. Just like bidding “$1″ when you are the last contestant on the Price Is Right.
Unfortunately, $1 won’t cut it. Your competition is smarter than that!
