SEO…….DEAD ?


What's eating Wayne Cowan? Well, our in-house guru doesn't care for marketing execs who demand "Instant Solutions".


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SEO…….DEAD ?

Search engine optimization… is it truly dead? Hard question to answer.. but not to some, especially the larger online publishers. Search engine optimization is a long-term play and should be treated as such. Media giants like Google would rather you buy into the ad words option to get the instant results that you’re looking for but that’s like leasing a car: once the funds are gone so is your listing. Let’s take a typical example of a corporate executive realizing that their offering can not be located but the company name can.

Here’s a typical scenario:

1. Type “A” executive decides go look for their product at Google; he keys in “blue widgets”.

2. After searching for “blue widget” the company is nowhere to be found.

3. Irate Type “A” executive calls down to find who looks after online marketing for the company in regards to search engine placement…

4. As staff scatter to find out who’s looking after it, time flies by.

5. Type “A” executive now sends out an email to the marketing team: “How come when I go to Google I can’t find anything but our company name, no products or service offerings?”

6. Marketing team brainstorms to quickly resolve and finds the “Instant Solution”.

Let’s pause there for a second. First off there is no “Instant Solution”. What is needed is a collective online plan; the reason for this plan will shortly be divulged.

7. Marketing team member contacts Google for ad words outline; after discussion the marketing team member realizes that to run something effectively and cover a good 30-day period to gain the best exposure will cost $10,000/month.

8. Campaign starts, and the Type “A” executive is now informed that all related offerings are now viewable on Google to the right hand side when a search term is queried.

9. Type “ A” executive now questions, “Why are we not listed in the natural index in the left/center of the page?”

Let’s stop there again. Now, your ad words buy is not directly being realized as this is not a longterm play since you are buying your way into the keyphrase listings. Natural indexing takes a lot longer to achieve. With a new domain and no back links, you now have a steep hill to climb, and hardly anytime to do this. Since the Type “A” executive wants the results now, Google wins. Let’s remember here, Google is an online ad revenue giant, whose goal is making money off the revenue and space you are buying to get listed.

“Don’t be evil” is what Google preaches but you still won’t be rewarded for being “good” while your competition remains miles ahead.

10. Marketing meeting is called with Type “A” executive now involved; this is where the Google debate begins. How do we get there in natural indexing? Who do we use to get there? What do we need? We can’t be spending 10K a month …what do we do?

That is the underying problem, so, is SEO dead?

“No.”

Education seems to be.


Read Wayne’s followup in May’s MarketingFind newsletter: Part 2: Getting the Job Done


Wayne Cowan
Wcowan@marketingfind.com