SEO has totally changed? Is your marketing following suit?

"SEO Isn't What You Think It Is." This is the absolute best article on the changing landscape of SEO to articulate and sum up the significant changes we have seen in 2012 period. I did not write it, but it echoes precisely what I've been preaching to my clients since the Summer of 2012. 

Let me make some crucial points and then on to this gem of an article. If you are doing business as usual, you are opting for extinction. The rules have changed! A lot! 

 

So if your marketing or SEO company has not come to you and said "we need to step back and re-strategize your entire approach to online visibility" they are flat out pimping you for money on old models and paradigms of SEO that NO LONGER WORK. 

 

What worked in the first quarter of 2012, no longer works at all in the 3rd quarter of 2012. That is because many things that Google previously rewarded, they now punish. So if your strategy is not FRESH, it is not merely stale, it is painfully DEAD.

99% of SEO companies are baloney - they take a small pinch of actual knowledge and hold it over their client's heads - fluffing up its value so they can charge fat monthly retainers.  This is in contrast to the work it takes to develop a comprehensive strategy based on the actual landscape of SEO in the present with a smart plan for the future. 

 

1% of SEO companies actually know what they are doing. I should know, as a Dallas SEO service provider, I have been in this industry since the very beginning. In well over a decade of local search marketing interaction, I've seen many companies and services come and go and only found 5 other companies (besides my own http://PromiseProductionsUSA.com) that actually GET IT. 

 

That's right, I can say in all honesty that in Dallas' city of 3 million people, there are only 6 legitimate firms amongst 20,000,000 PRETENDERS with little value and lots of hype to snag your marketing dollar and waste it. 

 

I am writing this because I am personally passionate that clients get TRUE VALUE and it upsets me to see so much abuse by other firms to something that could be one of the very most valuable tools to a business wanting more market share and more revenue.

 

Why don't other SEO companies stay current and actually "move the needle" for their clients? Because that takes real work, time and effort to stay on top of the very dynamic world of Search Engine Optimization. It takes visionary strategy. It takes actual innovation and creativity. And these things are not commodities.

 

Yes your website needs well-done SEO, but don't fool yourself to think that this alone will give you meaningful results in today's marketplace. On-page SEO is a necessity. On-page SEO is an assumed foundation if you are serious about your business, but it is no longer enough to rank well in Google. 

 

Today's successful companies must go beyond on-page SEO to off-page SEO and social interaction. If you don't have a brand visibility strategy you are being lost in the shuffle and throwing away your influence and losing valuable prospects left and right. Don't let that happen; use a savvy marketing communications firm that is well-versed in the new rules of search engine visibility since Google's Panda and Penguin updates to gain, and keep, your website in the top search engine results for your most valuable terms. 

 

Here is another "take away" from the new rules of SEO. Your web designer or website developer can no longer do your SEO. 

 

That is because SEO has evolved to incorporate elements that only those with current skills in integrated marketing, social media marketing, marketing communications and digital interactive agencies possess. 

 

Your website designer can intelligently make your website itself the best it can be, but that is just the start to the real process of online visibility. Only those who know web development but ALSO know social media, video SEO and online marketing are actually qualified to pull together the increasingly diverse sets of resources and strategies that are required to get real results in the search marketing landscape of today and tomorrow.

 

Understand that SEO, done right, is a TREMENDOUS VALUE to your company's short-term and long-term profits. SEO done wrong (or according to outdated approaches) is not only a terrible waste of precious resources, it now makes your company PENALIZED. 

 

That's right; you just heard me admit that what Google encouraged you to do a few months ago in your SEO and linkbuilding and keyword approaches, now will actually work against you - burying your company in the depths where no customers will find you and have the chance to do business with you. Google did not merely "update" the rules; they massively changed them - to the point of actually contradicting many of the previous commonly embraced SEO best practices. 

 

If your marketing or SEO company did not proactively come to you and tell you this, then fire them. They are probably not just ignorant or out or touch, they are probably panicking and literally hiding the fact that they just become irrelevant because they don't have the skill sets or marketing savvy to actually do you any good anymore! 

 

If your SEO firm did not come clean and tell you "the very things we've been charging you to do last month are now the things hurting your website visibility today, and becuase we care about your business' success more than we care about milking you for your monthly charges, we have a completely difference strategy to deal with this and win back your search engine placement" then they are quietly deceiving you - having become dangerous liability to your success instead of an asset. 

I am not saying they are necessarily wrong to do the SEO they did in the past. But I am emphatically stating that they are deceptive to keep on doing it today when they should be the first to know how the old rules hurt your results today.

Unless you are an expert whose invested significant time on a regular basis to understand the nuances between what ACTUALLY WORKS and what no longer works, then your business is practically pissing in the wind. 

 

I personally vouch that the info in this article below is the real deal, so I honor her for saying it like it is. There are no short cuts to success. Deal with it. But there are clues that success leaves behind that you can follow. Enjoy results with the significantly different "new best practices" when it comes to giving your products and services the visibility they need to succeed in a digital (and social) world.

 

So, speaking business owner to business owner, I personally invite your company to do itself a favor and learn the info below. It can make ALL the difference when it comes to your SEO, and if you want a diligent SEO company in Dallas, simply call Promise Productions at 877-858-0071.

 

To your success,

Marcus K

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Updates to Google's algorithms mean that social engagement, rather than search engine trickery, yields top results. 

By Veronica Fielding

Marketers are buzzing from the aftershocks of Google's recent most updates, code-named Panda and Penguin.

Panda, which launched around February of 2011, started using artificial intelligence in new ways to enforce the best practices guidelines Google had long provided to those seeking to optimize their websites.

If Panda was a wrist slap, Penguin, launched in last April 2012, was a body slam to websites still trying to "trick" the search engines into ranking them ahead of their competition. The update emphasized the importance of quality content, originality, and overall user experience.
Both the Panda and Penguin updates contained very clear messages for marketers: stop focusing on technology and tricks and start focusing on people. If your website appeals to people, it will appeal to Google's algorithms too.

But the Panda and Penguin messages go deeper. With them, the search engines are openly acknowledging that a website isn't the only place on the Web that a brand needs to maintain a strong presence. The interactive exchanges that people have with each other and with the brand--online--are happening in the social media channel, and the search engines are placing an increasing importance on how these conversations influence their views on brands and how their websites should rank.

This means that a brand can no longer rely on a well-optimized website to earn Google's attention. A brand must be a conversationalist, going where the people are and engaging them in discussion, and by doing that earn a wonderful reputation.

Smart brands are doing this by fully leveraging each social channels particular properties.

Facilitate conversations with fans on your Facebook page.
Simply announcing what your company is up to isn't going to get fans engaging with your brand. Post information that is relevant to your brand and of interest to your stakeholders. Invite questions, suggest other reading, provide links, curate other content. The point is to have dynamic conversations between your brand and your fans.
Parmesan is a delicious example.

Share tweets about topics of interest (again--not self-serving announcements but follower-serving news) via Twitter.
The search engines are all looking at Twitter activity, at the keyword and brand-name level, as signals for which brands deserve top rankings. No one is going to be interested in miles and miles of one-way tweets about how great your brand is. Know your stakeholders: provide information that will be of use to them and they will not only follow you, they'll retweet what you share.
Whole Foods gets it.

Uploading shareable videos to your YouTube channel optimizes your brand as well as your website.
How? When the content is engaging, people what to share it. When they share it, they often add a link to your website. Encourage more sharing and engagement with people who leave comments by responding to their comments. Remember, Google owns YouTube. Enough said.
Home Depot has a quality YouTube channel.

Pin and Repin interesting visuals on Pinterest.
Pinterest may not be right for every brand, but if you market to consumers and have a brand with visual attributes or messaging that can be supported by photos, images, and infographics, Pinterest is another option to leverage for brand optimization.
Real Simple and West Elm pin well.

Participate in groups, answer questions, and post company updates on LinkedIn.
This is less about SEO and more about putting your brand where the buyers are. Whether you are a B2B or B2C marketer, having a strong LinkedIn profile for your company, complete with referrals from customers and strategic partners, is a strong component in the brand optimization mix. While LinkedIn groups tend to be "closed" and therefore not accessible to the search engines, some are public, and therefore search engine crawlable and the conversations in those groups where your brand is referenced with links to your website can help with SEO and brand optimization too. And don't forget, Company Pages are public and now feature status updates.
Voices.com is a resource on LinkedIn.

Share information on Google+.
There is widespread belief that as Google+ gains in popularity, the conversations there will help with brand and search engine optimization. People have been somewhat slow to add yet another social media profile to their online presence, and brands have been slow to adopt Google+ too, but some brands are making smart use of Google+ now.

See what the New York Times is doing with it.

All of this social media activity works to create engagement around the brand by what has always mattered to the search engines most: people.

So rather than asking yourself, "How do I optimize my website to better rank with search engines?" ask, "How can I optimize my brand so that it's a sought-after participant in relevant conversations?" Answering that will bring you top rankings on the search engines and much, much more.

Veronica Fielding is the CEO of "Digital Brand Expressions", a trailblazing digital marketing agency that specializes in building audiences and connecting buyers and brands through context marketing solutions.