SEO in vogue
Suddenly everybody is an expert on SEO. No, not that everybody knows how to optimize a site for the almighty search engines but that most folks do know that ‘SEO’ plays a part in rankings. So it’s not uncommon to hear phrases like, “Can you SEO my site?” or “My site has SEO but we are not on page one of Google results!”, etc.
The second statement is the one we’ll address today. Simple answer to why you are not ranked No.1 is, one, there’s more to SEO than meets the eye and two, it really takes some doing to get on page 1 of search results. Any suggestions to the contrary borders on deception.
This is not to deride any efforts you might have invested in trying to get there but what you really need to ‘get’ is this whole SEO thing is a concoction of half-truths bourne out of a vortex of perceptions perpetuated by, for want of someone else to blame, Google’s (other search engines are not far off) omni-absence of a clear cut ranking policy!
The Google algo-dance!
For Google, it makes sense to keep everyone guessing what its algorithmic recipe is. Imagine this, if you knew the formula, and it was as easy as 2 x 2, you’ll rank numero uno #1 for eternity.
FIRST POINT, the ‘recipe’ is not for public consumption. It’s a secret. Anyone who professes to know is extraordinarily clairvoyant and should be dancing with the stars instead of working with the web.
SECOND POINT is, the ‘recipe’ is written to be over-written – the so-called algorithms that rank your site/page have so many transformers built-in that you won’t recognize Bumble Bee in T5 even if he came in yellow! Thing is, Google wants you to keep guessing, period. This works for the money and keeps SEO very much alive with the reverberating sounds of gems like “keyword density”, “Panda, Penguin and other to-be-named-wildlife”, “inbound links”, “PageRank” and a host of other seo-centric phrases being uttered ad infinitum.
THIRD POINT has to do with resources. Apart from the occasional oddball (non SEO’d site) on page 1, the rest of page 1 hoarders pumped in some serious marketing funds to get there. Yep, show me the money.
What’s it to you?
Know the odds, spend wisely.
If you accept that the ‘formula’ to rank high (of course you would demand no less than a page 1 showing!) is virtually non-existent, it begs the question, why spend on SEO at all? We say ‘virtually’ because in the real sense, it did exist at the time Google formulated it but once deployed, it escapes interpretation. So why spend if there’s no exact formula to prey on?
Get it done the smart way! Start with a basic, no-frills solution, monitor progress over time and only go for the jugular when resources permit. You’ll be surprised how far it can get you!
Half the conversations on ranking has to do with SEO. An SEO’d site generally does better than one that’s not. No matter what the spin may be, we all agree that doing nothing is suicide – at least so long as we still rely on searches. The question is how much to spend?
A good yardstick is first to look at who of your competition is there on page 1 for the keywords that got them there – and then guesstimate how much you think they would have spent by looking at their overall online advertising and marketing exposure. Measure that against what you can or are willing to spend usually puts things in perspective.
THE SOLUTION:
Our Barebones SEO “This Will Do!” Kit – the one and only “SEO JumpSuit” at your service!
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