Getting a Grip on SEO

A recent American Marketing Association survey describes search engine optimization as among the new skills marketers feel they need to learn. 

Yeah.  That'll be the solution to marketers' woes.

As a gentle reminder (read "There's an Elephant in the Room" here) CEOs and others outside of marketing view marketers as lacking in innovation and communication skills, not SEO skills. 

So, let's put SEO in perspective.  It's just another marketing investment that you should consider based on the facts.

Having just evaluated SEO firms for my website, I've decided that it doesn't make sense to invest much more than I already have, but it might make sense for you.  I'm not an SEO expert, but here are some basics to help fellow neophytes get started.

What SEO Is

SEO consists of techniques for getting your company's website listed highly in response to searches on Google, Yahoo and other search engines.  SEO relies on website content, key words, meta tags, links and other devices that lure search engines into thinking your site is the be-all-end-all on specific topics, industries or products.

Cost

The costs of SEO are driven mostly by the time you or someone you hire invests in making your site search-engine friendly. 

Buying Placement on Keywords

You can buy your way into higher search engine rankings, but here's the rub...If you want to come up high in searches on the most commonly used keyword searches, it's going to cost you much more than if you get more specific with the keywords on which you want to rank highly. 

Here are a couple of examples:  My dentist pays $40,000 per year to be listed among the top results for searches on "dentist", "Cleveland".  A friend who runs bar tending schools on Long Island pays $25,000 a year to show up in the top rankings.  That's for "bar tending school", "New York".  Pretty specific stuff.

Now imagine what the investment would be for searches on your industry or your product category, particularly if you have national or international reach.  We're talking big bucks, but it may be worth it.

Overture

Www.overture.com (now called Yahoo! Search Products) includes a free service that will tell you how many searches were made last month on any combination of keywords.  For example, there were about 7,800 searches on "marketing research" in July.  Those searches produce several million listings, so getting to the top of those page rankings would be difficult for our boutique firm.  Searches on "market intelligence" were far fewer, but this is what we genuinely offer, so those are among our key keywords.

My advice (and, again, I'm not an SEO expert) would be to try unique combinations of keywords that are specific to your brand and unique product characteristics.  If you're an auto insurance company, for example, try "auto insurance", "New York" and "declining deductibles" if you offer that feature.  There will be fewer searches on those terms each month, but your chances of getting a higher page ranking are greater.

A Moving Target

There are hundreds of SEO firms out there working with thousands of businesses to get their search rankings higher.  SEO isn't an event, it's a long term commitment.  High search rankings today can disappear as competitors use new strategies to get their rankings over yours. 

Next Steps

• Read up on SEO.  It could be a powerful addition to your marketing mix.

• Talk to a few SEO firms to get a sense for how they can help.  If any promise that your site will consistently be listed first, walk away.  No one can guarantee that. 

• Try to winnow down your keyword combinations to those that differentiate your offering.  You're trading off volume for efficiency.  Ask your prospective SEO firm for their suggestions.

• Evaluate the business case for SEO, particularly if you're considering buying placement on keywords.  You might get a sense that your ROI will be higher for other kinds of marketing investments.  It's perfectly fine not to jump into online marketing investments if you've got better ways to spend your money.

      --Jason Sherman, Whyze Group

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