SEO – Search Engine Optimisation – is a waste of your time.

I regularly say this to clients.  And quite often they look at me wondering if I’ve lost the plot.

Don’t worry – I haven’t.  Let me explain …

First off what keywords, or phrases are you trying to rank for?

Whatever they are I can’t imagine you’ll be the only person trying for them.  So you’ll probably be playing keyword leapfrog for ever.

Are you happy with that, or would you rather spend your time more profitably?

Now imagine you want to buy something, or find out more about something.  Where do you go?

The chances are it’s Google.  And what does Google want to happen to you?

Google wants you to get the answer to your question – whatever the question is.

This is why they have their famous, clever, changing every day search algorithm.

But Google’s algorithm doesn’t just look for matching pages somewhere on the internet and say this is the answer.

It looks for a page on a relevant and authoritative site which answers your question.

Imagine your question was: is seo a waste of time?

You used to be able to get away with – and rank well – for a single page website along the lines of:

SEO is a waste of time.  Buy my book for $99 to find out why.

Would this site answer your question?  Not really.  And Google wants you to get your answer.

(This isn’t altruistic of them – it’s cold, hard business.  If you don’t get what you want you’ll go elsewhere and the Big G won’t make as much money).

Now imagine you have a website all about building websites.  And one (or more) pages on your site are devoted to why seo is a waste of time.

Once again our searcher types: is seo a waste of time?  Google starts to search …

… finds your site full of stuff about websites, seo, etc …

… sees you have a page discussing whether seo is waste of time …

… thinks: this is a relevant site with a page answering the searchers question …

…and send the person with the question to you.

So make sure your site is an authoritative one.  With pages of content relevant to whatever it is you do.

I think this is the sensible way to build your website.  And it will – in the long run – get you better rankings.

But …

There are a few things you must do:

• What Google tells you

The Big G publishes its guidelines and rules for people creating web pages.  None of them are hard so make sure you do what they ask.

Of course you don’t have to do what Google asks – just as long as your happy with a very low ranking site.

• Use Google Analytics

Analytics will tell you what keywords / phrases people are using when they find your site.  Make sure you have them covered – create new pages if needs be.

One final thing I’d recommend is a blog – if you can.

You’ll cover more ground by posting.

What’s more the search engines like sites which are always updating.

But whatever you do please keep this post in mind.

– especially the next time an SEO Consultant knocks on your door 🙂