Is it a big surprise that a Google search for “search engine optimization” (exact phrase in quotes) returns about 32,700,000 results? Not to me. For every legitimate firm who does SEO the right way, there are hundreds looking to make a fast buck from those who don’t know better.
The two big trends in SEO:
- Opportunistic Mentalities: The average small non-profit knows very little about SEO. But they want so desperately to get their non-profit at the top of a Google search. Lack of SEO knowledge combined with an opportunistic mentality equals potential sucker - the perfect client for most drive-by SEO “consultants”.
- Competition: Search Engines all have competitors (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Technorati) who are increasingly vying with one another to present the most valuable, differentiated search results.
Being opportunistic (and lazy) by nature, many drive-by SEO firms focus on “trick” tactics:
Link Farms - Search engine results are influenced the number of inbound links. The assumption here is that users have placed such a high value on the relevance and quality of a website, they they create a link to it on their own website. Daisy-chaining websites together to artificially inflate search engine rankings is a short-term strategy doomed to fail.- Keyword Stuffing -Overpopulating certain portions of a Web page with particular keywords in the hopes of influencing search engine results will also fail. Google is very good at parsing out ”natural” content from computer-generated gibberish.
- Cloaking - This practice involves delivering different (high-ranking) website content to the search engine spiders than is delivered to human users.
The solution?
Working with search engines instead of trying to exploit them is the only approach that works in the long term. Even an ethical and honest approach to CSS and HTLM structure can’t help content that has little or no value for Google users.
The best search engine optimization strategy is have the same goal as Google:
Present the most valuable, differentiated content to your users.
If you liked this, you should read these:
SEO Resource Assessment for Small Non-Profits
Why Your Non-Profit Needs Google Analytics
The “Rules of The Road” For Non-Profit Social Media
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Rick Beckman 10.04.08 at 12:09 am
Just a test comment to see if comments show up…
James Helms 10.04.08 at 1:19 am
@Rick Yes, I heard about the new release…comment issue seems to be resolved. Your work has been really helpful to a lot of people.
@John I work in the space and I understand what you are saying. One issue that non-profits and small business run into is not knowing where to start looking for a firm. Even when they find a reputable firm the prices are many times beyond their budget.
SEO isn’t the only way to market on the internet. SEO takes time to build up many months in some industries. Sometimes a space is so crowded it could be even longer still. You have to approach internet marketing from a variety of angles, not just SEO.
Cindy King 10.05.08 at 10:05 am
I think that we can listen to SEO tips, but ignore the SEO tricks.
Included your post in my blog carnival and stumbled it. Keep up the good work!
johnscotthaydon 10.05.08 at 10:25 am
@James - Agreed - SEO is a long term approach to marketing, among many others.
@Cindy - The key is for folks to understand what SEO is about BEFORE that decide what services to outsource. By the way, thanks for posting this on your blog!
John