Search engine optimization, or SEO as those in the industry call it, is largely an unknown term to those who don't work with it. In fact, most people have never even heard of SEO. It is telling that even within the SEO field, not everyone agrees on how it is best achieved.
There are of course the basic guidelines: lots of content on site, properly formed meta tags, get inbound links, give outbound links appropriately, and strong site organization. But the reason SEO continues to be more of an art than a scientific method is because there is no one way to accomplish these things. Exactly how much content does a site need, and how many times does a keyword need to be on a page? How many inbound links do I need and how do I get them? Are paid links ok? Are comment links ok? What makes a good title tag? A good h1 tag? Am I doing anything else wrong that will hurt my rankings?
Ask 10 SEO companies s to perform a site analysis, and you;ll get 10 different reports. Luckily most of them will have quite a bit of overlap. And luckier still, provided they are bona fide SEOs , most will not have any outright conflicting advice. But still, the finesse and attention to detail that a good SEO agent possesses will be evident in the varied responses you would see in these 10 reports.
This is the challenge for the SEO organization. There is no clear laid out plan that can be picked up and read like a book. There's no secret site that one can plug into and retrieve all the right answers. As every day at work is different, every company and every website is different. The interesting factor for the SEO provider is the suspense of not knowing immediately if their work is successful. Improved ranking and traffic take time to build and a successful SEO program will achieve that for the client.
The mystery of SEO also makes it hard on a layman though. It is nearly impossible to perform truly stellar SEO work to your own site, because the finesse it requires only comes with volumes of clients under your belt. Further it makes it harder for a layman to choose an SEO provider, and to know if the changes his SEO wants him to do are right answers. It requires a leap of faith and at least a basic understanding of SEO to dive into it.
There are of course the basic guidelines: lots of content on site, properly formed meta tags, get inbound links, give outbound links appropriately, and strong site organization. But the reason SEO continues to be more of an art than a scientific method is because there is no one way to accomplish these things. Exactly how much content does a site need, and how many times does a keyword need to be on a page? How many inbound links do I need and how do I get them? Are paid links ok? Are comment links ok? What makes a good title tag? A good h1 tag? Am I doing anything else wrong that will hurt my rankings?
Ask 10 SEO companies s to perform a site analysis, and you;ll get 10 different reports. Luckily most of them will have quite a bit of overlap. And luckier still, provided they are bona fide SEOs , most will not have any outright conflicting advice. But still, the finesse and attention to detail that a good SEO agent possesses will be evident in the varied responses you would see in these 10 reports.
This is the challenge for the SEO organization. There is no clear laid out plan that can be picked up and read like a book. There's no secret site that one can plug into and retrieve all the right answers. As every day at work is different, every company and every website is different. The interesting factor for the SEO provider is the suspense of not knowing immediately if their work is successful. Improved ranking and traffic take time to build and a successful SEO program will achieve that for the client.
The mystery of SEO also makes it hard on a layman though. It is nearly impossible to perform truly stellar SEO work to your own site, because the finesse it requires only comes with volumes of clients under your belt. Further it makes it harder for a layman to choose an SEO provider, and to know if the changes his SEO wants him to do are right answers. It requires a leap of faith and at least a basic understanding of SEO to dive into it.
About the Author:
SEO Moves, Inc. performs specialised SEO for choice clients in competitive industries. Now with a presence in Australia, they are an SEO company that continues to take on the most difficult of ranking challenges. Visit them at www.SEOmoves.com
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