The Goal of SEO
22 Aug 2006 | Angie H
Here at 420 Design, SEO is something that we do for every site we build. And we also perform SEO as a separate service, where it falls into a limited area of search engine marketing. Through our experiences with clients and prospects alike however, it's become more evident that people have been mislead or misinformed about what the goal of SEO is or should be.
If there's any rule of SEO it's this: Ranking at #1 should not be the ultimate goal of any good search engine optimization program. If it is, you fall into the trap of focusing solely on getting listed for every possible keyword and key phrase. That's an uphill, unwinnable battle that just wastes your time and money. After all, search engines control their ranking algorithm, not you or me or the best SEO expert money can buy. And for that reason alone, ranking of any kind can't be guaranteed.
The goal of any good SEO program is to get new customers to your website. But not just any customers. You want the right customers, a prospect, or even better, a qualified lead.
But it doesn't end there.
The site itself should be designed and coded to be search engine and visitor friendly. That means your content needs to be readable by humans. And it needs to be fresh. It's because of this, combined with good design, that a visitor decides to stay or click to the next site (usually a competitor). A site may be beautifully designed, but it will have little value if the content is lacking or isn't regularly updated. (The opposite is also true - a site may have been written by the best copywriter, but if the visual component(s) can't lead a user to the content, what's the point?)
Ranking is and should be the result of hard work (whether you or a professional does it) that puts you over your competition. And if you're able to keep consistent ranking (which is just as important as staying there) then you have something better or different to offer customers.
So the next time you're fiddling with meta tags or asking your SEO professional about why you're at #3 instead of #2 despite all your offline promotions, remember that's not the point. SEO is about matching the right people with the right offer. It really is that simple.
