Search Engine Optimisation – Is SEO a Dark Art or a Science?
Search engine optimisation services are one of those terms that gets banded about the marketing space all the time, with virtually everyone claiming to understand it, use it and/or benefit from it.
But what do you really know about it?
Yes, it’s about using the right keywords in your content.
Yes, it can make a big difference to your engagement online.
And yes, it can help potential customers find you in their searches when you would have otherwise remained hidden from view.
So, will including search engine optimisation marketing in your strategy guarantee you the top spot in the search results? Sadly the answer is no.
SEO – otherwise known as Search Engine Optimisation – is a far more complex beast than people give it credit for. If you use Google SEO the web will tell you it’s ‘the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines’*. Yet this definition barely scratches the surface of what you need to be aware of, and what you need to be incorporating into your marketing strategy if you are really going to use it to your advantage.
Hiring the right person to meet all your search engine optimisation services needs.
Before you dip your toe into the realm of Search engine optimisation services it’s important to speak to a professional who a) knows what they’re doing when it comes to SEO, b) fully understands your business and what you are trying to achieve, and c) can assess whether your marketing strategy is truly viable.
There are a whole host of ‘experts’ and providers out there that will gladly take your money each month in exchange for a bit of SEO work. But if you’re not seeing any improvement in your analytics, you’re paying something for a whole lot of nothing. Meanwhile, your online business is busy going nowhere fast.
If an SEO provider is quoting figures and making promises before they’ve taken the time to get to know you and your business, tread carefully. As a rule, at soVision IT we won’t engage with SEO website services for a new client until we have fully assessed that their proposition is viable, and we are sure that the money they are set ready to invest in SEO will legitimately deliver in sales. If your current provider isn’t prepared to turn you away based on the viability of your SEO strategy, it’s probably time to start looking elsewhere.
Because for all too many, Search Engine Optimisation services are viewed as a tool that will fix all their problems.
The reality is, getting it right is not a given. And using SEO on Google does not magically deliver results.
Unlike PPC (payed search via Google Adwords), Google doesn’t make any money out of SEO. Instead, they’re looking for quality results from searches on their platform, i.e. they want to see that searches result in users clicking through to websites, and crucially, staying there. They do not want to be giving search rank for content that isn’t liked. So, beware; however good your SEO is, your website will be taken off the top of the list if your customers are jumping ship. You end up back where you started from, down a penny or two from your investment, and no more visible than you were before.
The reality is, any time and money you’ve piled into your SEO won’t amount to anything if your website isn’t up to scratch. For us, helping our clients with their website goes hand in hand with SEO – there’s no point in one being great without the other. However impressive your SEO might be, if you lead your customers to a below-par website you’ll soon be slipping down that search list. If you’re struggling with your website and content you may find our blog ‘New website not delivering on the promise? How to avoid the pitfalls’ useful.
So, is mastering search engine optimisation marketing a dark art or a science?
In all honesty, it’s probably neither. More so, it’s about being very, very good at what you’re doing. SEO involves real skill and expertise and it’s something that needs to be considered alongside the rest of your digital marketing business to improve your conversion rate optimization. Unfortunately, not all providers out there are prepared to give what is needed to online businesses in order to really deliver results. If search engine optimisation marketing is something that scares you, confuses you, bores you, or even frustrates you, we can happily discuss with you some options and strategies that might help improve your visibility and give you the tools to make your business more successful online.
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