The Academics of SEO vs The Reality

Firstly, I don’t want this to come across as being a rant, far from it. Secondly, I’m certainly not going down the route of blowing my own trumpet, this simply isn’t in my nature as I hope many a client would agree!

SEO – The Practicalities of Managing a Truly Optimised Campaign

I started out in SEO back before it was refered to as “SEO”, in 1997. Back then the words “website submission” were far more common than “website optimisation”. The Search Engines lapped up information and targetted ‘optimisation’ for keywords was a relatively simple process…. then along came competition!

Over the past 12 years I’ve worked on literally 100s of websites, whether those that I’ve owned, those that I’ve worked for, or now, clients. Over time, algorithms have evolved, quality SERPs placement has become more and more difficult, not only to capture, but to maintain, and the whole industry has exploded with so many fantastic, knowledgable and well paid individuals leading the SEO industry.

The SEO industry is a tremendous democracy, one where as individual practitioners we share stories, tips and techniques and general waffle about our understanding of what makes Google et al tick.

As the industry has firmly established itself in the Marketing Family rather than the IT Family, the identity of SEO is now present within most, if not all, boardroom or marketing dep’t discussions.

Like any industry however, there are those that are academic and those that are practitioners. The academics research, understand, translate and often regurgitate information to their audience. The practitioners spend their time doing the work rather than presenting their work.

Not everything in the world of SEO can be found in the latest blog or book

The ‘evolution’ of Social Media has allowed for this flow of information to progress even further… to the stage it appears SEO ‘experts’ are happy to discuss with all and sundry the elements of optimisation they feel the most necessary to focus upon. Sadly, this has brought about a new breed of ‘SEO academics’ who have read their copies of ‘SEO For Dummies’, studied RSS feeds from their favourite blogs and sat on Twitter and Digg producing articles reciting their latest reading and statistics each and every day hoping to land a new client.

This is where I feel the line is drawn between those that can talk SEO and those that can deliver SEO. The principles are relatively simple – quality content, site structure and internal/inbound links on paper should provide a steady SEO platform and a steady flow of traffic. What makes an SEO campaign great is the level of involvement between the optimiser and the client. The understanding that the SEO expert can provide regarding redundant wording, the impact of keyword/phrase analysis, the importance of correctly positioned title tags and headers… these are areas which are understood through experience, not those that can be picked up by reading and comprehending statistics.

The mechanics of SEO are relatively unique to each particular industry and/or business. A range of elements translate between projects as SEO practitioners build a greater understanding of content structure and  link techniques. Using this information an SEO practioner, working alongside the ‘knowledge base’ of his/her client can build a truly optimised structure for search engine combat. Managing SEO, knowing where amendments are needed, where elements of the structure are underperforming are all areas which evolve through time and experience….

For any business looking to develop an optimised site structure to drive traffic and sales my advice is to look beyond information which can be gleemed through online and printed media. Recruit an SEO consultant who can provide an immediate overview of how/where your current site is underachieving and then work with them to develop your strategy moving forward. Their understanding of SEO and your understanding of your market will produce a highly successful route to new opportunities for your business online.