The Myth of SEO

When meeting with new clients, we are often asked “do you do Search Engine Optimization?” SEO is something that is top of mind for most clients; if you build it, you want people to be able to find it, right? Many clients are under the impression that all it takes is a few strategically placed SEO keywords and the masses will come flocking to your site, cash in hand, ready to buy. Therein lies the myth.

Our answer to SEO is a little more complicated than that. We don’t have a dedicated practice area for search, and we don’t offer it as a separate line item on our estimates. Yet the work we do for our clients (and ourselves) is regularly at the top of any search results of meaningful and relevant search terms. So no, we don’t “do” SEO, but we are extremely good at it.

Our SEO strategy is simple:
Create meaningful content. Deliver it in a way that people can find it. And know that it takes time.

First let’s take a minute to understand that by “search engines” we mean Google. (There is Twitter search, but we’ll save that for another discussion.) Sure, your SEO company might claim to put you at the “top of 20 leading search engines,” but do you really need to be #1 on Lycos? Why spend your money to be top of mind at a place where your customers aren’t?

Content is King

Google’s job is to get meaningful content in front of web users, and the best way to do that is to produce and deliver that content. As owners of your brand you should be publishing content that is relevant to your brand and your business. A few well placed keywords isn’t going to do the job of showing your thought-leadership and commitment to your brand that a well-written and frequently updated blog will. I’ve had clients argue “I can’t afford to hire somebody to maintain our blog and keep it up to date.” Yes you can. Look at your media budget. I guarantee that carving some of that out for a dedicated online voice for your company will be well worth the investment.

Equally important is that you write with a human audience in mind. Keyword-heavy content that is written with search engines, not visitors in mind might boost your search results in the short term, but it will cost you in the long term. The race isn’t only to be first in mind, but to get people to actually engage with your brand and ultimately to purchase your product or service. To quote our friend Paul Wille, “Google doesn’t book hotel rooms, people do.” An interactive experience that is leaden, frustrating and inhuman will only drive away your potential customers and will hurt your search results (and your brand) in the the long run.

Help them Find It

Even if you have the best content out there, it does you no good if search engines can’t find it. We make it a priority to build (as much as possible) web-standards compliant websites that are accessible and semantically relevant. Garbage code does you no favors. Presentational markup that obscures that content and makes it less accessible does you no favors. Deep AJAX and Flash implementations (as much as we love them as behavioral tools) do you no good if the content is buried in the Flash and can’t be accessed in other ways. Again, a keyword strategy from an SEO outfit is not going to overcome structural inefficiencies in your markup.

Have Patience

You wouldn’t expect build your brand in 30 days, what makes you think a SEO company can put you top of mind in ten? Despite the promises, a good SEO strategy requires patience. The good news is that while an intelligent approach takes time, it also has more permanence. Once you have a  foundation of a site that is architectually solid and the discipline in place to produce timely and relevant content, your place at the top of the search standings will be secure.

Brands that make meaning aren’t in the business of keywords, they’re in the business of changing the world. And you can’t change the world in a handful of keywords.