Search engine optimization: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 07:12, 31 July 2011

Revision as of 07:17, 31 July 2011

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== As a marketing strategy ==

SEO is not an appropriate strategy for every website, and other Internet marketing strategies can be more effective, depending on the site operator's goals.<ref>{{cite web|title=What SEO Isn't|url=http://blog.v7n.com/2006/06/24/what-seo-isnt/|publisher=blog.v7n.com|date=June 24, 2006|accessdate=2007-05-16}}</ref> A successful Internet marketing campaign may drivedepend upon [[Organic search|organic traffic]], achieved through SEO techniques and without paid advertising, to web pages, but higher effectivity may result from broader [[Search engine marketing]] methods including paid advertising on traffic|search enginesengine and other pages, [[Ad text optimizationmarketing]] (ATO), building high quality web pages to engage and persuade, addressing technical issues that may keep search engines from crawling and indexing those sites, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure their successesresults, and improving a site's [[conversion rate]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/03/13/the-battle-between-search-engine-optimization-and-conversion-who-wins/|title=The Battle Between Search Engine Optimization and Conversion: Who Wins?|author=Melissa Burdon|publisher=Grok.com|accessdate=2007-05-09|date=March 13, 2007}}</ref>

SEO may generate an adequate [[return on investment]]. However, search engines are not paid for organic search traffic, their algorithms change, and there are no guarantees of continued referrals. (Some trading sites such as eBay can be a special case for this; it will announce how and when the ranking algorithm will change a few months before changing the algorithm). Due to this lack of guarantees and certainty, a business that relies heavily on search engine traffic can suffer major losses if the search engines stop sending visitors.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=[[Forbes]]|url=http://www.forbes.com/technology/2007/04/29/sanar-google-skyfacet-tech-cx_ag_0430googhell.html?partner=rss|title=Condemned To Google Hell|author=Andy Greenberg|date=April 30, 2007|accessdate=2007-05-09}}</ref> It is considered wise business practice for website operators to liberate themselves from dependence on search engine traffic.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.useit.com/alertbox/search_engines.html| publisher = useit.com | title=Search Engines as Leeches on the Web|date=January 9, 2006|accessdate=2007-05-14 |author=Jakob Nielsen|authorlink= Jakob Nielsen (usability consultant)}}</ref> A top-ranked SEO blog Seomoz.org<ref>{{cite web|publisher=searchenginejournal.com| url=http://www.searchenginejournal.com/seomoz-best-seo-blog-of-2006/4195/|title=SEOmoz: Best SEO Blog of 2006|accessdate=2007-05-31|date=January 3, 2007}}</ref> has suggested, "Search marketers, in a twist of irony, receive a very small share of their traffic from search engines." Instead, their main sources of traffic are links from other websites.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=seomoz.org|accessdate=2007-05-31|title=A survey of 25 blogs in the search space comparing external metrics to visitor tracking data|url=http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-blog-stats#4}}</ref>