An SEO Recipe is a Recipe for Disaster
I saw a funny forum post this morning about a person asking the community in a an online marketing for the best SEO recipe. That person is already dead in the water right from the start. Let’s take a step back and emphasize how important taking a marketing approach really is when conducting a search engine optimization campaign for your business or website. When you start off asking for a recipe for your search engine optimization program, you are really setting yourself up for disaster. Your search engine optimization should never look like a science project.
The search engines have been evolving since their birth many years ago. When they first came on the scene, instantly many highly technical “marketers” started manipulating the algorithm to get web pages to appear high up in search results. Search engines really dislike it when people do this. Over time they have consistently tweaked and changed their algorithm to get these people to stop manipulating the system to get their bogus web pages to rank. Some have disappeared and some have evolved to find new loop holes in the system. Remember that rankings alone do not generate business. Rankings are just one factor out of a basket filled with other marketing factors that should be utilized as well. Online shoppers are changing drastically. Over the last few years during the economic down turn many people have realized that they need to change their shopping behaviors. Many have already made the change in slowing down spending affecting the way people market their businesses. Making many technical sweeping changes to get your website to rank is not the answer you need. Online customers want to bump in your pay per click ad, they want to see you communicating with your audience online, they want to see you branding yourself and making at attempt to be visible in front of them in many different ways before they decide to call you or pull out their credit card to make a purchase on your website.
The evolution of the search engine and the relationship it has with online customers is rapidly evolving. You should not be looking for an SEO “recipe” but rather an SEO internet marketing plan to help grow your business. SEO and marketing together are very powerful. They create many multiple quality pathways and links pointing to your website that can really generate a great deal of targeted traffic to any website.
12 Responses to “An SEO Recipe is a Recipe for Disaster”
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true, there is no such thing as an SEO recipe, since it is an area that needs to be adapted constantly and according to the objectives of the business. However, there are some basic guidelines for all SEO strategies.Good post!
Hi SysComm,
Thanks for the comment and for reading! The SEO basics often evolve but do remain the same overall over time!
That meal looks good though
Nick ~ As usual…a good read. Like SysComm…I agree…there are a set of best practices or the ole’ white have v. black hat deal. I would like some comments on content vs. link building if you have any thoughts on that issue. Thanks!
Alton j.
What is the difference between a SEO recipe and a SEO plan. There are a lot of best practices for SEO that cover most websites requirements. I think a custom SEO plan is great if customers can afford it, but for smaller engagements a simple ‘recipe’ already helps a lot.
Couldn’t agree more, with not just this post but previous which highlight not just good SEO but content also.
My pages regularly appear in top 10 in my field, often making it to No.1-3, and that’s not just good SEO but giving Google something it eels is of value.
Always enjoy your posts Nick
This is a great article. Wish I had read it over a year ago when I started online. I honestly was one of those people who also looked for the “recipe” for success.
At least I learned after a few months.
Thanks!
Hi Matthias Zeitler,
Great question, an SEO recipe as far as I am concerned is robotic, or trying to create a formula to “crack the SEO code”…there is none (speaking as a white hat SEO person). An SEO strategy is a planned link building/on site SEO gameplan, much like a marketing strategy….thanks for reading!
Hi Anglerdirekt,
Thanks for the kind words and for reading!
Hi Natural Stress Relief,
Yeah, I think most people kind of go through the recipe phase at some point…thanks for reading and your comment!
Couldn’t agree with you more… I tell many of my potential clients that the best SEO starts offline. (and that really confuses them)
Hi Reid,
Hahah! I am sure it does confuse them! There is no SEO recipe at all! Thanks for reading and your comment.
SEO on its own is but one aspect of an effective internet marketing strategy. Integrating your thinking and approach leads to a whole far greatert han the sum of its component parts, and it is in this contect that search engine optimization needs to be viewed. Getting this information over to clients is another story though…..the glassy eyed look is but all too prevalent, LOL!
Hi Net Age,
Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts!
The glassy eyed look does indeed still happen often with SEO clients!
Take Care,
Nick