SEO’s Moving Goalposts

If you’ve ever dived into doing Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website, you’ve probably discovered the fuzzy (and frustrating) nature of it – which is not likely to get simpler. The goalposts are always shifting thanks to search engine algorithms tweaked daily to combat SEO tricks – Google’s goal is to nail what users want, not necessarily what you want.

Some SEO people have only worked in certain industry’s where a niche strategy might work wonders. Ask five people you’ll get six answers. The answer should be what is right for you – someone who doesn’t know your industry or audience isn’t in the best position to give advice.

Anyone can do SEO – just like anyone can build a car from scratch. The question is whether it will move traffic. Getting up to speed on all the strategies and then matching your objectives to the right ones is time consuming. Not to mention keeping on top of the changing field (both engines and competitors).

And things change fast – up until a few weeks ago we would have advised to limit Flash usage, unless for a small graphic or game. Best practices aren’t in place yet, but the game has changed for Flash.

Inbound links are worth highlighting because most people don’t give them enough respect. Mostly this is because it takes more effort than other SEO strategies and most SEO professionals have a hard time selling people on the expense, no matter the effectiveness. If you’ve ever had your link mentioned in a national publication or other site Google highly values, you know its impact can beat most common strategies comobined.

The irony is that big names that have the budget for SEO don’t need it as much – the web is already talking about them (comments, posts, links, etc.). That volume of inbound links is powerful. Small companies can’t compete unless they carve out a specific niche for a specific city/region. Mid-size companies that do well online tend to throw someone specifically on SEO or contract outside for ongoing SEO work.