SEO Is NOT Set It and Forget It!
“SEO is [not] a set-it-and-forget-it item you tick off a to-do list,” remarked author Rebecca Lieb. In an article by David Berkowitz in Media Post’s Search Insider, entitled “You Can Still Handle These SEO Truths,” Lieb answered a few questions about SEO and her new book.
Whoa. What she said is so totally true, and I say the same all the time. To me, SEO is like a living, breathing matrix that constantly has to be monitored and adjusted with the changes in the environment. Search is always changing, and so, SEOs and anyone who wants good search engine ranking has to change with it.
Lieb is a woman after my own heart, and I plan to check out her new book, The Truth about Search Engine Optimization, for sure. I’m guessing there will be many more, “Right on sistah!s” in there, too.
Here’s another quote from the article: “And if you’ll indulge me a second, there’s another myth I’d like to bust: that search is for geeks and techno-nerds. I’m not a developer; I’m a writer and editor, but search turns me on.” Whoa. She could BE me. LOL
What about search turns me on? The fact that it’s an inexact science. It is never static (as aforementioned) and it’s totally exciting. What new curve will the Google ghods throw at us today, folks? And about that, here’s something I never understood. Google does the “dance,” but they should revise that term. We’re the ones whose feet are being shot at all the time!
And that keeps it really exciting. Are you up on the latest stuff? How valid is what you learned last year? What changes have to be made because of this zig or that zag? Are you sick of constantly having to learn new stuff? Oh, man… That’s what turns me on! I love learning!
And SEO always keeps you guessing.
And why many of the top gurus, including my own boss, don’t see extremely high value in SEO.
Of course, they’re wrrr… wrrrong. Eh!
What’s better than getting streams of traffic you never have to pay for? Not much. And the funny part for me is that I study it all the time, but rarely get to put this stuff into practice. There’s never enough time at Overcome Everything, and because I’m working for that company, my own company is like the shoemaker’s children. It never has shoes.
Ah well…
In a perfect world, Google wouldn’t make us crazy by trying to outsmart us outsmarters, and I’d have time to prove that SEO is the most important (not the least important) part of your business.
If you don’t have time for all the ins and outs of SEO, just take enough time to do proper keyword research, and use keywords in everything you do. That’s the least you can do, and over time, it will help your business. You may not get to the top of Google for a keyword like “golf,” but you might be surprised at terms you are ranking for and getting some of that cool search engine goodness after all.
So, thanks to Rebecca Lieb and people like here that are out there laying down interesting stuff about SEO. To me, it’s the best!
Regmanabq
March 24th, 2009 at 7:17 pm #
How true!! So often people think they hire and SEO pro for a few bucks and magically their search ranking will shoot to the top and stay there.
This is far from true. It is an ongoing constantly evolving field that requires attention to detail and an ongoing commitment.
SEO is not “set and forget” just like everything else in business on the net.
Gwen
March 26th, 2009 at 1:38 am #
Excellent information about SEO. You have to check very frequently as the information and keywords seem to change weekly and you have to update your website accordingly.
Pat Marcello
March 26th, 2009 at 5:38 pm #
So true. Weekly is a little often, but you should at least be checking keywords and your SEO plan on a monthly basis.
Most people aren’t that serious about SEO.
Should be, but aren’t.
Thanks for your comment, Gwen.
– Pat
David T.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:22 pm #
While it is true that search engine optimization isn’t a “do it once, then forget it” task, I often get the feeling that even a one-time improvement of a website would help. Totally unoptimized sites with weird, unreadable URLs, a start page from which you need to click 5 links to reach the main content (or worse: a Flash-based page) and absolutely no relevant keywords, would already profit very much from just a single overhaul.
Of course it is required to continue adjusting the website to the newest developments in SEO, but it is better to at least have the gain of a one-time improvement if you can’t afford to hire a SEO specialist and pay a monthly fee.
I imagine that many SEO people will disagree with me, but this is because they rather get a monthly payment instead of just a one-time payment.