Open letter to American Express - Why you do need SEO

February 24th, 2008

My attention recently got drawn to an article by Cuban Council on the American Express website ‘Youropenbook.com’, which stated the following

“Finally, don’t waste money on so-called Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O.) specialists. Search engines are very quick to penalize sites that try to trick their filtering techniques, and once your site has been put on Google’s blacklist, it will take forever to get off.”

What made such ‘experts’ in online come to such a conclusion I would love to know - its a bit like me pointing the finger at American Express for the US credit crunch. It seems a very significant statement to make with very little evidence to back it up, and something I would suggest should be properly researched before putting pen to paper. Whilst I would agree ‘Textbook SEO’ (As Mike Grehan has often referred to it) is a dinosaur of the past, however the role of search marketing specialist even a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) specialist/Digital Asset Optimisation (DAO - Chris Copeland) is still a fundamental aspect of your marketing mix - and something that should be embraced.
In the article, a number of points are raised in order to raise awareness of your services online - none of which in their simplest form I can disagree with

• Get a memorable domain - Great advice - but why not get one that potentially may help with your online visibility as well
• Outsource web hosting - This is where the role of a search marketeer could help you. What happens if you so happen to outsource your hosting to a shared host hosting a number of prominent link farms. Potentially this may cause a number of issues with your online visibility.
• Design for your audience - no argument here - the most fundamental part of web design imo.

However the final part advises readers to ‘Optimise for your search engines’ - Yes Optimise for your search engines - just don’t use search engine optimisation specialists according to Cuban Council. No offence but this is like saying - invest your money but don’t use a broker. Chances are it may work - but its far more likely to be a successful project if you get someone that knows what they are doing - just make sure you are getting someone that does know what they are doing. These days there are so many good agencies out there - that there is no need to use a standalone web design agency many who arguably do not understand search engine optimisation nor how it works.However I would like to draw points to five points on the American Express website alone where an Online Marketing expert could have provided far more value -

1. Localisation
   http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&rls=GGGL%2CGGGL%3A2006-24%2CGGGL%3Aen&q=american+express&btnG=Search&meta=cr%3DcountryUK%7CcountryGBTry running the above query - that is a search for American Express on a UK only search. Feasibily I would say this is something a potential customer may do - i.e. I don’t want contact details for your Singapore office, I want a UK contact. Because of the current setup of the American Express website the site does not show - as it does for a global search.A well structured global search engine optimisation strategy would have picked this issue up, and implemented a localised search campaign aimed at correctly targeting applicable demographics.
2. Basic Optimisation - A simple browse of the UK subdirectory shows the ‘lack of SEO on the current site’. Whilst to a certain degree brand would go a long way here - the fact is - finer segmentation and optimisation of data makes it more difficult to a potential customer like me to convert meaning that I have to undertake a four to five clickstream to get to the top level of information I require - something I would suggest could be significantly reduced by a more targeted optimisation technique.
3. Use of Subdomains - Whilst I understand technically why subdomains may have been used - this has resulted in considerable segmentation in their display in the Search engine results pages. Take a look at the example we provide above and you will notice results for https://home.amer…, http://www.american… and http://www3.america . These results have been treated as seperate domains and thus diluted much of the effects a more unified site may have provided. Not just optimisation related but from an administration perspective it must be a nightmare.
4. Visibility - Away from core brand terms American Express does not appear for many high traffic relevant terms such as ‘credit card’. With research suggesting users are becoming more search savvy, and therefore conducting more searches and browsing less SERPs. This means that making your website more visibile whether in terms of search engine positioning, or actual visibility in its original guise - making it stand out is more crucial now than ever. Mining the long tail here could throw up some golden nuggets.
5. Competitors - Lets face it all the competitors are doing it

Now I know American Express did not directly write this article, however as the huge brand they are they wield a massive amount of influence, and such comments are a little irresponsible in my opinion. Whilst as others in the industry have said previously, SEO in its 1990’s guise is dead - however there exists an important service offered by online marketing specialists that enhances the design and development of sites , both from a technical and marketing perspective

Entry Filed under: News and Views, SEO