SEM UK - Changing Perceptions of SEO - Part I

September 19th, 2007

Search Marketing is changing, and changing quickly. Terms such as personalised search, local search optimisation or social media optimisation are not just ‘this is going to be the next big thing’ type terms, they are the now, and they should be part of your online marketing toolkit.

Clients are spending more on online marketing than ever before with a recent Internet advertising report quoting that spend on digital marketing had surpassed the £2bn mark, with spend in many online marketing sectors more than that for direct marketing. I would however suggest that clients in many instances (particularly those with less budget), still perceive more value in offline marketing. So how can we change this?

More focus on ROI

There are still a number of agencies out there that determine the success of the campaigns by the amount of number 1 rankings they have, with regular ranking reports the norm. There has been a shift across many digital marketing agencies recently towards a more ROI focussed success measurement where the number of leads, sales and enquiries as a direct result of activity being used as a benchmark rather than the number of terms.

Whilst we personally monitor visibility in the SERPS, we do not use it a criteria for success. Sure, good ranking in many cases is indicative of a good potential ROI, in my opinion as a online marketing specialist, our role is more about successful marketing. There are also other issues in using visibility on terms as criteria for success including:

• Results are not constant across data centres - therefore not a thorough representation of where you are currently ranked
• Rankings are not indicative of success - I may be number one for ’seo wizard helmshore’, however with Helmshore being a small town in Lancashire, I would suggest I am very unlikely to get enough traffic off to make a living. Admittedly that is a very bad example, however it is indicative that a badly researched and implemented campaign, can produce impressive results in the number of no.1 terms, however it is unlikely to produce any significant difference to the clients bottom line - and as such - why is he going to bother doing SEO again.
• Here today, gone tomorrow - Rankings are not constant. Google, MSN and Yahoo change their algorithms constantly and as such results bounce around for weeks on end. Other improvements in the index have seen new content finding its way into the index far quicker these days, and therefore included in results.

Web Analytics therefore should have an even more important part to play, not just in terms of shaping an online marketing strategy, but also in terms of measuring success. Comprehensive filtering and goal setting should be the norm, giving both you and your client scope for successful measurement of your campaign

Change the perception of SEO as a black art - ongoing

The perception of SEO as a black art is slowly dying, however I would suggest there are still two many people having bad experiences with search marketing. On FusedNations blog this morning, MarketingGuy blogged about ‘Is SEO in the UK in a mess‘. Personally on the whole, I would have to say no. There are a number of SEO agencies such as Search Latitude, BigMouthMedia, Greenlight, Spannerworks, The Search Works and Steak Media for example that have really increased the profile of search marketing particularly to larger clients, however I would suggest there is still a subset within the industry that will always be responsible for affecting perception through badly advised or implemented campaigns.

Unfortunately I would suggest much of the problem lies in perception yet. There are a number of people who are still working to the submission/meta tags approach. I can count the first agency I worked at in 2001 as just such an example, despite a well packaged online marketing section to the website. To me this is part of the problem. I have recently interviewed a number of potential candidates for an SEO role, and have to say that there seems to be a massive gap between potential candidates - those who know and understand SEO - and those that merely take orders. I would suggest that there is a lack of good SEO’s in the UK (backed up by the horrendous number of recruitment agencies I still find phoning myself up - trying to fill senior search marketing positions).

Anyhow back on topic. Many web development agencies offer SEO as part of their service - however many do not offer the professional service and approach that a search marketing specialist would offer them, and as such these experiences can then manifest themselves in the industry as a whole. I suggested in response to the afore mentioned Fused Nation post the following:

As a footnote for part 1, we as an SEO community have come along way, however there seems little point in resting on our laurels. We have a good solid core to build on, and one in which to make a respected and successful sector

Entry Filed under: SEO