SEO Advice - Who do you believe?
One of my favorite discussion groups is LED Digest. There are plenty of successful Internet marketers on this list (e.g. Ken Evoy, Allan Gardyne) and you'll often pick up some great tips on all manner of doing business online. Although it's not purely an SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) forum the discussion often turns to this topic simply because it's so important for achieving any degree of success online.
However, when discussing SEO you'll often find differences of opinion, which may leave you wondering "who is right?" and "whose advice should I follow?". For example, there is a regular LED contributer whose imparted wisdom I often disagree with. I shan't name him, but these differences usually produce some lively discussion. This is actually quite fun (I enjoy a good debate) but where does that leave you if you are trying to gather information on how to improve your search engine rankings? Before I answer that let's look at a recent example:
I recently posted my "to do" list for newly created sites (which you'll find on this blog as well). The purpose was mainly to get new sites fully indexed quickly, although old sites which are having trouble getting indexed can benefit as well. However, this list also forms the basis of a strategy to improve your rankings as well. Mr SEO Expert had this to say in regards to my post:
"It's a shame that people continue to pass around such outdated, bad advice despite months of debunking these kinds of SEO myths by many well-informed people in the industry.
To get good rankings, you need to write interesting content, post it on YOUR Web site, and optimize it....
Stick to the fundamentals. Don't go for these cheap tricks. Right now, many people are complaining across numerous forums that their sites have lost rankings on Google since March.
They all followed the bad advice about getting tons of cheap links from free article submission, press release distribution, obscure free directories, reciprocal links, and paid links."
So says Mr SEO Expert. Bad advice. SEO myths. Mr SEO Expert likes to impart his wisdom, usually based on what other people say (the so-called "well informed people in the industry") or his own experiences in very "niche" content sites. But let's look at an example, real-world, high-competition, BUSINESS website - www.bestbusinessbuyes.com.au. The keywords we targeted for this site are "business broker australia" and "australian businesses for sale". Those keywords are precisely what it's audience use when searching for the content that this site provides. That content comprises listings of businesses for sale in Australia. Of course, there are lots of other business brokers competing for those top search engine rankings.
So, is this content so "interesting" that other sites will naturally link to it, or the search engines will recognise it as interesting and give it high rankings? Hardly. Until we implemented a link building strategy it's rankings/traffic was abysmal. Was the link building strategy we adopted effective? Judge for yourself. Search those keywords at Google, MSN and Yahoo. March came and went, incident free. No dought the fact that this site has lots of original, frequently updated content is a significant factor, but if your business operates in a competitive, non-niche marketplace, good content is rarely enough. You need to actively build links using a variety of methods.
Whose SEO advice should you follow? I don't for one minute pretend to have all the answers. Everyone has an opinion and is entitled to it. Take in all the advice that is given, but adopt your OWN strategy. If you are not getting good search engine results and you do nothing, you will continue to not get good search engine results. If your strategy produces good results, run with it. Don't stop using a tactic because some "well informed person in the industry" says you shouldn't. Do what works for YOU. If your strategy doesn't produce results, modify it. Try something new. Be active. Work at it. The results will come.
Steve
Keywords: seo search engine optimisation ken evoy allan gardyne link building strategies
However, when discussing SEO you'll often find differences of opinion, which may leave you wondering "who is right?" and "whose advice should I follow?". For example, there is a regular LED contributer whose imparted wisdom I often disagree with. I shan't name him, but these differences usually produce some lively discussion. This is actually quite fun (I enjoy a good debate) but where does that leave you if you are trying to gather information on how to improve your search engine rankings? Before I answer that let's look at a recent example:
I recently posted my "to do" list for newly created sites (which you'll find on this blog as well). The purpose was mainly to get new sites fully indexed quickly, although old sites which are having trouble getting indexed can benefit as well. However, this list also forms the basis of a strategy to improve your rankings as well. Mr SEO Expert had this to say in regards to my post:
"It's a shame that people continue to pass around such outdated, bad advice despite months of debunking these kinds of SEO myths by many well-informed people in the industry.
To get good rankings, you need to write interesting content, post it on YOUR Web site, and optimize it....
Stick to the fundamentals. Don't go for these cheap tricks. Right now, many people are complaining across numerous forums that their sites have lost rankings on Google since March.
They all followed the bad advice about getting tons of cheap links from free article submission, press release distribution, obscure free directories, reciprocal links, and paid links."
So says Mr SEO Expert. Bad advice. SEO myths. Mr SEO Expert likes to impart his wisdom, usually based on what other people say (the so-called "well informed people in the industry") or his own experiences in very "niche" content sites. But let's look at an example, real-world, high-competition, BUSINESS website - www.bestbusinessbuyes.com.au. The keywords we targeted for this site are "business broker australia" and "australian businesses for sale". Those keywords are precisely what it's audience use when searching for the content that this site provides. That content comprises listings of businesses for sale in Australia. Of course, there are lots of other business brokers competing for those top search engine rankings.
So, is this content so "interesting" that other sites will naturally link to it, or the search engines will recognise it as interesting and give it high rankings? Hardly. Until we implemented a link building strategy it's rankings/traffic was abysmal. Was the link building strategy we adopted effective? Judge for yourself. Search those keywords at Google, MSN and Yahoo. March came and went, incident free. No dought the fact that this site has lots of original, frequently updated content is a significant factor, but if your business operates in a competitive, non-niche marketplace, good content is rarely enough. You need to actively build links using a variety of methods.
Whose SEO advice should you follow? I don't for one minute pretend to have all the answers. Everyone has an opinion and is entitled to it. Take in all the advice that is given, but adopt your OWN strategy. If you are not getting good search engine results and you do nothing, you will continue to not get good search engine results. If your strategy produces good results, run with it. Don't stop using a tactic because some "well informed person in the industry" says you shouldn't. Do what works for YOU. If your strategy doesn't produce results, modify it. Try something new. Be active. Work at it. The results will come.
Steve
Keywords: seo search engine optimisation ken evoy allan gardyne link building strategies
posted by Hawks at 8:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home