SEO Attitudes

Nov 21, 2008
10 Comments


Can’t see the video? Watch it on the blog.

I’ve had a lot of discussions with people online about the value of SEO (search engine optimization), and I’ve encountered several viewpoints about it. Some people just think it’s evil and is the same thing as spam, or even that it’s illegal (none of these are true, of course). These people know the least about SEO and what it does for you. That’s a pretty steep educational hill to climb, from my point of view. Preconceived notions hinder us from learning, growing, and profiting.

Others are all for it. They want every advantage they can get. These people know they don’t know things that could help them, and they actively seek out and learn everything they can. This describes me (and how I’ve come to know what I know). I think many blog marketers fit this description. After all, a business operation must make money. For these people, curiosity is a virtue that rewards constantly and long-term. These people are usually my clients and customers. They hire me for consulting calls and buy my seminars and courses.

Then there is a middle group who understands the value of SEO but feels that with great content, SEO simply isn’t necessary. That’s the group I discuss in the video.

What’s your SEO attitude?

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  • @Michael I had that problem with the URLs to a website of mine which runs on Joomla and had to find a plugin. The problem is now I have to be careful not to name two articles the same way because will generate the same link and the hole thing will go wild. :)

    I think social media can get you traffic and if your content it's good many of those who will come will link to your content on social media websites or social bookmark it or just link from their blog. It's a time consuming process in the beginning because you have to work so the people will "listen" to your posts and your links. Only then I'll get traffic from my Twitter account for example.
  • Some great discussion, everyone. Let's make sure we don't get traffic generation mixed up with SEO. SEO is about only one thing: search traffic. We usually class search engine traffic separately from other types of referral traffic such as from StumbleUpon, Twitter, or Facebook. It gets confusing because it is possible to use social media profiles to try to help you rank for certain keywords, but in order to do that, you usually have to use the keywords in the name of the social media account (which is useless for any real loyalty or trust, and I don't recommend it).

    Including keywords in your URLs and file names for pages & posts does help considerably. But if that can't happen because of URL structure for a CMS (as an example) it is still possible to rank for keywords based on title, headings (especially these) and the rest of the content of the page.
  • Hi Toma. Gotcha! ;)

    If you forgot about all that stuff, I'd imagine you'd have an increased chance that your article would rank for keywords you don't want to rank for.
  • @John Hoff - eVentureBiz : I agree entirely. I also think you can't talk about marketing without mentioning the word a few times. What I was implying what would happen if you brake all the rules and don't care about keywords in titles, metatag description, file names, text links and another few. Of course that you'll need to mention the word since you write about it.
    It was good to hear your opinion.
  • @ Toma - I know a little about SEO. Here's a thought to consider in reference to your #1.

    If your content in no way mentions "marketing tips", it is highly unlikely your article will show up for a search on "marketing tips". True the backlinks will help your PageRank and will help Google identify what kind of stuff your site might be about, but for Google to find your page via the specific search in the search box for "marketing tips", that keyphrase better be in your article.

    Re: all the social networks. Those methods do work, but that is a lot of work and it is typically a slow process for most people. If you don't know anything about SEO and could care less about it, your best option (at least in the short run) is to use PPC.

    For about $150 this month, I've had 250 clicks to my landing page with decent conversions. It's well worth learning how to use PPC.

    On a side note, SEO is not that difficult (as I can see you already know some). Like you said, all you need to do is add a keyword phrase in your title when you can and in the body of your content (best toward the top). Links are good as well. If your article is about marketing tips, it shouldn't be too hard inserting that keyword phrase in your article without sounding weird. Then if you do get all those backlinks, Google has a decent idea what keywords and phrases your PageRank will go with.

    Without mentioning "marketing tips" anywhere in your article but at the same time have a decent PageRank due to the backlinks, your article "Be a good boy and fetch the ball” would probably rank well for good boy and fetch the ball.
  • Hi Michael,
    Thanks for another great video. I love these short little videos with a tip or two- perfect for when you're too busy for a lengthy one- which, luckily, is most of the time!

    I agree- good content is vital, but you need to learn some SEO tactics to separate from the herd a bit. My first SEO guidebook? SEO School over at ittyBiz. If you've got to learn something that can seem a bit overwhelming, Naomi is a great source- SEO and humor all at once.

    What makes it start to really make sense, for me, though, is when I get these kinds of little reminders and tips in easy to digest nuggets! As usual- good stuff!
  • Michael,

    Blog Marketer - that's me :-)

    And I'm not only a Blog Marketer....I am also a client lol.

    It's a balance act, I believe. Write great content, but you can't neglect the importance of SEO. I have a business partner I met on the first page of Google, and she get's rewarded lovely for it.

    Toma, you bring up some great points too. I personally am working on my SEO skills and am big on social networking (Twitter, Facebook especially) for traffic.

    I can also relate to "writing for Google". It's not fun at all and awkward. Balance is key.

    Good stuff, Michael. Looking forward to connecting soon!
    Dali Burgado
  • I don't know how you can separate SEO from Content.
    You can drive all the traffic that you want but if there is no value when the reader is there, then what good is it?
    But without good SEO work they are not going to find you in the first place.
  • Hello Michael,

    Here is what I think :
    1. If you're not doing any SEO and you just create awesome content here is what I think you should do (because if you don't use SEO you need some other ways to attract attention to your blog or website) : you should use social media tools. You should use Twitter (for it's simple way to communicate), you should use Youtube or Viddler or both, you should pay close attention to social bookmarking and you should use at least one more social tool : FB, Flickr, Myspace or whatever suits you. If this is the case I'm just wondering what would Google will think about this next situation :
    A person doesn't care about SEO and he names his article about marketing something like "Be a good boy and fetch the ball". The article is so awesome and offers so many great tips on marketing that it attract thousands of backlinks and trackbacks from websites and blog that are about marketing. If this happens what would Google return on a search of "marketing tips" ? If that article comes up then it's SEO in the sense of building backlinks. If it doesn't show ... I think it will.

    2. If you are doing SEO and you are researching what search volume a keyword phrase has or what is your Google rank with some keyword phrases and trying to improve that you could easily fall in that part where you write for Google and keep repeating keywords just to get the right density that people will found your content dull and boring. If this is happening then you have no backlinks and very low weight in Google.

    In conclusion I think you have to keep a balance :
    - use SEO on your titles but add some words that will help you create a spicy title
    - use your keywords in your content but don't worry about density; go for the first paragraph, the last paragraph and one or two text links; and of course in your metatag
    - make use of your social network to try and advertise your articles
    - research what keywords generate high volume searches but also what are the hottest searches in your social media channel

    PS : sorry for the long article; I was carried away
  • Thing is a lot of the time you can get by with only great content that is attracting links and happens to contain keywords people are looking for, but when you really need to rank for a certain phrase, that is when the value of SEO really hits home :)
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